All Charges Dismissed For Man Accused Of Dragging Woman From Vehicle, Pushing Her Head To The Road

JOLIET, IL —Last August, the Will County State's Attorney's Office filed 13 criminal charges against 57-year-old Scott Edman, a Braidwood man who had been accused of violently dragging a woman from his vehicle, throwing her to the ground and pushing her head down against the road.

As it turned out, Edman has emerged from the Will County Courthouse without a single criminal conviction.

Joliet Patch has learned that in recent weeks, Edman and downtown Joliet criminal defense attorney Chuck Bretz were notified that the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow opted to dismiss all 13 charges against Edman rather than proceed to a trial in front of Will County Judge Tom Slazyk. Court records show that the prosecution's entire criminal case against Edman has been dismissed.

Last August, Glasgow's prosecutors charged Edman with six crimes of aggravated battery, six counts of domestic battery and one count of criminal damage to property. Edman spent two days in the Will County Jail last August following his Braidwood police arrest.

Despite the allegations of domestic violence outlined in the petition to deny pretrial release, Will County Judge Sherri Hale ruled in Edman's favor and ordered his release from the jail.

According to the prosecution's petition, on Aug. 14, Braidwood police responded to North Mitchell Street and Round House Street; officers saw a man walking aggressively down the street and managed to calm him down. It turned out that the man was a witness and a brother of the victim. He told the officers that his sister was abused by Edman.

Braidwood officers interviewed the woman, and she said she was with Edman and her brother, and they decided to go to Hayden's Crossing in Wilmington. According to the woman, she made a comment about the table napkins at Hayden's Crossing and that made Edman upset.

From there, the three went to another bar where Edman told someone that the woman he was with was going to get her nipples pierced, which upset her, and she denied it, prosecutors noted. The woman said that on the drive back to Braidwood, another argument broke out and that prompted Edman to pull into the Braidwood police station. However, Edman then pulled out and left, according to prosecutors.

The woman said she then called her ex-husband from the Casey's General Store in Braidwood, and Edman got into the driver's seat and began to drive. Calling her ex-husband made Edman mad, and he took her phone and threw it out the window, damaging the phone, prosecutors outlined.

Edman eventually turned the car around, stopped, got out and approached her side of the vehicle, according to prosecutors. He grabbed her by both arms, dragged her out of the vehicle, threw her to the ground, grabbed her by her hair near her forehead, and pushed her head down against the road, court documents show.

The victim told Braidwood police she remembered being hit on the head, and then she blacked out. The woman advised she did not get hit in the face, and she was not choked during the incident, prosecutors said.

Braidwood police said the 911 caller was an innocent bystander who saw Edman exit his vehicle, grab the woman and throw her to the ground. The witness then saw Edman hit the woman as she was lying on the ground, and that's when the witness called 911, police said. Officers noticed the victim had multiple wounds to her legs and thighs that were bleeding, as well as bruising to her wrist, hand and arm, prosecutors said.

As for Edman, he continues to live in Braidwood, residing in the 1300 block of North Harbor Landing.