Nick Crowley's Days At Joliet's Police Department Are Officially Over: There Will Be No Appeal

JOLIET, IL — Nick Crowley, the most recent Joliet Police Department officer to be recommended for firing from Chief Bill Evans, has agreed to a termination, Joliet Patch has learned.

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. After receiving notice he was being terminated from Joliet police, Crowley could have appealed the decision to the city's police and fire board appointed by Mayor Terry D'Arcy, or he could have appealed to an arbitrator.

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.

Crowley's Police Career

After high school in Grant Park, Crowley served in the Marine Corps for four years at Camp Pendleton. He obtained his associate's degree in Kankakee and worked as a bartender at the TGI Fridays in Bradley. From there, he became a police officer for Grant Park. After six months, he joined the Bourbonnais Police Department, where he stayed nearly eight years.

Crowley joined the Joliet Police Department in February 2013, the same year as his divorce from his first wife. In 2014, Crowley and fellow Joliet Officer Cassie Socha began dating, and in 2015, he moved into the town home Socha owned. Socha and Crowley got married on April 19, 2019, before a judge in DuPage County.

In late February, Chicago attorney Ian Barney, who successfully sued the city of Joliet and won a federal jury verdict in an excessive force case against Crowley a few years ago, issued the following remarks when Joliet Patch notified him of Crowley's termination.

"Officer Crowley's termination from the Joliet Police Department underscores his documented history of disregarding the professional standards expected of all law enforcement, a history that includes a federal jury's finding that he violated the constitutional rights of a Joliet resident," Barney said. "Holding our government accountable is essential in a democratic society, and we should all support the removal of officers who have demonstrated a history of serious misconduct."

In the federal lawsuit that Barney won for Joliet resident Christopher Simenson, Joliet was also forced to pay the legal bills for Simenson's lawyer. And those legal bills topped $100,000.

According to the lawsuit, Simenson was sitting on a park bench along the Des Plaines River near the Jefferson Street Bridge shortly after midnight on May 28, 2016. He was waiting for his mother to give him a ride home when several Joliet officers, including Crowley and Officer Luis Ayala, approached him, asking if everything was OK.

Simenson insisted to Joliet police that he never threatened to jump off the Jefferson Street Bridge, and he was just waiting for his mother to give him a ride home.

Simenson insisted to Joliet police that he never threatened to jump off the Jefferson Street Bridge. While the Joliet police talked with Simenson, a Joliet Fire Department ambulance showed up. Officer Ayala asked Simenson to meet with the paramedics at the back of the ambulance.

"At some point while Plaintiff was at the rear of the ambulance, he was approached by Defendant Crowley," Barney's lawsuit noted. "Defendant Crowley told Plaintiff that Plaintiff was going to the hospital in the ambulance."

Simenson insisted he was fine, he was not suicidal and there was a misunderstanding. Simenson reiterated that his mother would be arriving shortly to give him a ride home.

That's when Crowley became aggressive, insisting Simenson was going to the hospital, either voluntarily or in handcuffs, the lawsuit alleged.

"As Defendant Crowley forcibly placed Plaintiff’s hands behind his back, he slammed Plaintiff face-first onto the rear bed of the ambulance," Simenson's lawyer informed jurors. "As Plaintiff was slammed onto the rear bed of the ambulance, Plaintiff’s face struck the corner of a metal gun box."

Crowley's aggression caused Simenson to split his face open just under his eye, causing heavy bleeding.

"At no point prior to being slammed into the ambulance did Plaintiff physically resist Defendant Crowley, or any other Joliet police officer, in any way," Simenson's lawyer argued.

After shoving Simonson's face into the back of the ambulance, the suit alleged, Crowley had Simenson arrested on misdemeanor charges of resisting a peace officer.