Joliet Police Officer Bill Busse No Longer In County Jail

JOLIET, IL — After spending 28 hours locked in the Will County Jail for his second domestic violence arrest in seven months, Joliet Police officer Bill Busse was freed on Monday night. He posted 10 percent of his $10,000 bail.

At Monday's bail hearing, Will County prosecutors asked that the defendant's bail get set at $100,000 and that he get put on GPS monitoring. Joliet criminal defense lawyer Jeff Tomczak asked for a $10,000 bail. Judge Brian Barrett agreed to go with the lower bail amount.

As it stands, Busse faces six new criminal charges in connection with his arrest in New Lenox at the house of his ex-wife. There are four charges of domestic battery, one charge of obstructing an officer and one charge of violating bail/bond.

Will County Jail records show that Busse, who is 6 foot 7 inches tall and weighs 240 pounds, was booked into the downtown jail at 1:44 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 29.

Tomczak told Patch that it is his understanding that Busse was invited over to visit his ex-wife on Saturday night. "We anticipate vigorously defending any allegations against my client in this matter," Tomczak said of Busse.

The Will County Jail released Busse from their custody at 5:36 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 30

It remains to be seen whether Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner will attempt to terminate Busse now that this marks his second criminal arrest of the year.

On May 31, Joliet Patch broke the news of Bill Busse's arrest by New Lenox authorities on a single charge of domestic battery. On June 3, Joliet Patch reported that Busse's ex-wife had obtained a protection order to keep the Joliet police officer away from her because she feared for her safety.

The woman stated in court files that the off-duty Joliet police officer "kept hitting me open-handed. He spit at me multiple times saying he should kill me for [expletive] lying ... He put my head in the washer and was talking like he was going to slam my head.

"He hit me in the back of the head many times and the sides of my face, put his hand on my throat and was pulling my hair, I was begging him to stop," the ex-wife wrote the court.

Busse also "threatened to kill me if I call the police or went to the police. This went on for a long time and Bill finally calmed down," the order of protection petition states.

Will County jail logs indicate that Busse is 36 and lives in Homer Glen.

As for Busse's May 31 domestic battery charge, that case is set for a pretrial hearing on Jan. 22 at the Will County Courthouse in the courtroom 304.