Woman Screams For Help As Joliet Police Arrest Man With Violent Criminal History: Prosecutors

Dakari Williams, 29, has been charged with unlawful restraint and two crimes of domestic battery following his arrest by Joliet police.

By John Ferak, Patch Staff

Aug 31, 2026 10:05 AM CDT | Updated Aug 31, 2026 10:20 AM CDT

Now 29 years old, Dakari Williams lives in Crest Hill in the Pioneer Road apartment buildings. This is his second time in the Will County iail this year. He also spent time there in 2020 and 2021. (Mugshot via Will County Jail)

JOLIET, IL —Now 29 years old, Dakari Williams finds himself back in the Will County jail following his Joliet police arrest over the weekend in connection with charges of unlawful restraint and two crimes of domestic battery.

Prosecutors from the Will County State's Attorney's Office filed a petition to deny pretrial release, saying that Williams has a substantial criminal history. Williams was living in Crest Hill at the Pioneer Road apartment buildings at the time of his latest brush with the police.

According to the filing, Joliet police responded to one of the apartment units at 907 Lois Place for a woman screaming for help on Saturday. Williams had choked the woman, causing scratches to her neck and chest, court documents allege.

"The defendant blocked (her) only exit, and when (she) attempted to exit through two windows, the defendant pulled (her) back into the apartment," prosecutors outlined.

Prosecutors said Williams was already on pretrial release in Will County for two cases of criminal damage to property.

"The defendant has a substantial criminal history of violence against property and people. In DeKalb County, Illinois, the defendant has dispositions for attempted home invasion ... and served 6 years in IDOC," court records indicate.

Williams served a three-year consecutive sentence for illegal possession of a weapon by a felon from a 2021 case, and an aggravated domestic battery case in 2019 drew 180 days in jail. He also did a two-year term in the Illinois Department of Corrections for a 2019 aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. All of those crimes were from DeKalb County. In 2018, Williams was convicted of robbery in Will County, and that drew an eight-year DOC sentence.

Back in 2017, when he was 20 years old, Williams was also the focus of a Romeoville Patch crime story pertaining to his arrest, along with two others, in connection with a rash of car burglaries in the village of Romeoville.