'Let Go Of My Mom! Let Go Of My Mom!': Joliet Police Arrest Domestic Abuser Suspected Of Infidelity

JOLIET, IL — For the past six weeks, the new Will County judge assigned to Courtroom 202 has continued to impose detention under the SAFE-T-Act against more people arrested in the Joliet area accused of violent crimes. Andrew Lewis, 37, became one of the latest persons ordered by Will County Judge Chrystel Gavlin to remain in the Will County Jail under the SAFE-T-Act.

Joliet police arrested Lewis, who shows an address in Glen Ellyn, last week on South Broadway Street. The Will County State's Attorney's Office has charged Lewis with two crimes of domestic battery.

According to the prosecution's successful petition to deny pretrial release, Joliet police responded to one of the second-floor apartment units in the 0 to 50 block of South Broadway around 11 p.m. on Feb. 4 for a domestic. An 8-year-old girl was crying near an upstairs window.

One of the neighbors told Joliet police that she heard doors slamming, screaming, crying and a child's voice saying numerous times, "Let go of my mom!" so the woman called the police, court files show.

A Joliet police officer spoke with the female victim who indicated she and Lewis had an argument because she believed he was cheating on her. The victim began to place his stuff on the stairs and told him she was done and wanted him to leave her mother's residence, prosecutors informed Judge Gavlin.

The victim noted that the door leading to the stairs was already open and Lewis got up and slammed the door, causing her hand to get caught in the door. The victim suffered a bloody hand, and blood was seen on the doorknob and kitchen floor, prosecutors advised.

As for Lewis, he had blood on his hands, and he told Joliet police that was from trying to help the victim with her injuries. He said they had an argument and that the victim struck him with an open hand, prosecutors noted. However, Joliet police saw that Lewis had no injuries and he had possession of the victim's phone during the entire investigation.

Prosecutors noted that Lewis had a domestic battery conviction from Cook County, in 2019. He also had a DUI conviction that same year, also in Cook County. As for other priors, Lewis had an assault and a criminal damage to property in 2017, a 2012 domestic battery and resisting arrest, reckless driving and possessing drug paraphernalia from 2009, a DUI in 2009, a drag racing conviction from 2007 and manufacture/delivery of marijuana in 2006.

"The defendant poses a threat to the victim and her minor child," prosecutors asserted. "The defendant has three prior incidents of domestic violence. The defendant is a threat to the named victim as well as the community in general."