Fired By Joliet Police, Nick Crowley Wants His Past Criminal Charges Expunged By Will County's Judges

JOLIET, IL — It's been almost nine years since now-retired Joliet Police Chief Brian Benton had his department go out and arrest one of their own, Officer Nick Crowley, in connection with overnight domestic disturbance in which Crowley was accused of firing one of his guns into the ceiling during a heated argument with Officer Cassie Socha, his future wife.

Crowley's July 2017 arrest and detention in the Will County Jail became a major news story that summer. The following May, Crowley emerged from the Will County Courthouse with an unblemished criminal record. Much to the disappointment of the Joliet police command staff, Will County Judge Dan Kennedy found Crowley not guilty of all charges following the bench trial. Crowley was represented by downtown Joliet attorney Jeff Tomczak of Tomczak Law Group.

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On Thursday, just three months after Crowley agreed to be terminated by the city of Joliet following his latest internal affairs investigation, Crowley filed a request to expunge and impound and/or seal his criminal records from Will County.

Specifically, Crowley has asked Will County's judges to expunge and impound his criminal felony case from 2017. He listed the Joliet Police Department as the arresting agency and the date of his arrest as July 16, 2017, and he put "FI" as the outcome. FI stands for Found Factually Innocent.

Crowley noted the charges against him included two counts of reckless discharge of a firearm, two counts of domestic battery and one count of criminal damage to property.

During the May 2018 trial at the old Will County Courthouse, Crowley did not take the witness stand to testify in his own defense. A special prosecutor tried the case.

During the bench trial, Socha testified that Crowley fired his gun into the ceiling of her townhouse during the wee hours of the morning after her rescue pit bull named Gia began growling and tried to bite her.

Before the gun incident, prosecutors said the two off-duty Joliet police officers had been drinking at parties, restaurants and bars all throughout the day around New Lenox and Joliet before they drove home together from Anthony's Steakhouse & Pub near the Louis Joliet Mall shortly after 3 a.m.

According to Joliet Patch's trial coverage, Crowley and his fiancée began their afternoon attending a friend's 40th birthday party around 3 p.m.

"I believe Nick had a beer," Socha testified.

After stopping at the birthday party, Crowley and Socha went out for dinner together at Gatto's in New Lenox. From there, the couple drove to another local bar, Bulldog Ale House, where they stayed "for a few hours until 12:30 a.m., maybe," she testified.

After midnight, she and Crowley "we went to another bar ... Anthony's," she testified. Crowley's then-fiancée remembered she continued drinking more vodka sodas, and Crowley "had a beer. I believe so," she answered.

"I can't speak for someone else's intoxication; I was," Socha testified. Crowley and Socha stayed at Anthony's Bar until it closed around 3 a.m.

Once they got home during the wee hours of the morning, tempers flared, she testified.

"I was upset we had not had a period of time to ourselves in quite a while," Socha testified.

Crowley accused her of "extracurricular activities" involving her talking to a male friend, she said. That's about when Gia, Socha's rescue pit bull from Chicago, entered the trial testimony.

After Socha bent down to put on the dog's choke and shock collar to take Gia outside, Crowley threw a tumbler against her refrigerator, she testified.

Next, "I threw a picture frame," Socha said. "We were arguing. We were yelling."

All of a sudden, Socha's rescue pit bull "barked and kind of got down and barked at Nick."

Glass was broken all over the rug, according to testimony.

Socha remembered that because of the way her dog was acting, Crowley exclaimed, "I'm going to kill your (expletive) dog!"

"She's growling and kind of barking," Socha testified. When the dog tried to bite her owner, "I heard a gunshot, yes."

"Did you have your gun in your hand?" the prosecutor inquired.

"No," she testified.

Socha darted upstairs.

"I grabbed a pair of pajamas and put them in my car," she said.

Once she got outside, Socha realized the doors to her townhouse were all locked. And she did not have her keys. She suspected Crowley had locked her out. She walked around the perimeter of her property. In the backyard, she peered inside through a window and saw Crowley.

"He was looking up at the ceiling. He was messing with the hole in the wall. It was dark outside, and I was drunk," Socha remembered. "I videotaped it."

Sometime between 4 and 5 a.m., she found one of the doors unlocked. "I assume Nick unlocked it ... I saw Nick was packing a bag. I got upset, and I started yelling. I threw a low shot at his kids. We went at it again. He pulled out the TV. I went for the TV too, and it dropped."

The prosecutor pressed her witness with several questions asking whether Crowley threw the TV or caused the damage, but the fiancée said they had equal blame.

"We both had the TV in our hands. The TV fell out of both of our grasps."

The prosecutor asked if there was any physical altercation or violence involving Crowley and her.

Absolutely not, Socha testified.

"He got into his car, and I threw another picture at his car," Socha testified. "That broke in the garage."

Around 5:15 a.m., Socha began calling and texting several of her friends to notify them of the episode that occurred at her townhouse.

Fast forward to 2026.

In early March, Joliet Patch reported that Crowley had agreed to a termination.

As a result, the Joliet Police Department has removed Crowley from its roster of active-duty sworn police officers. Crowley's departure from Joliet will allow him to pursue other career paths. During the past several years, Crowley has pursued additional collegiate coursework while employed at the city of Joliet.

Previously, Joliet Patch broke the news revealing that Crowley was notified on Feb. 23 that he was being recommended for termination by an outside law firm hired by the city of Joliet to handle Crowley's latest internal affairs investigation.

No member of the Joliet Police Department has been the subject of more discipline-related news stories during the past decade than Crowley. In February, a source told Patch that Crowley's termination "has something to do with his family. I do know that." The source indicated Crowley had been under a direct order at the Joliet Police Department to have no contact with his wife and with the kids.