Niles Cop Who Made Homophobic Joke and Urinated in Public Reinstated

NILES, IL - A Niles police officer who once earned a lifesaving award after running into a burning building to save the lives of two elderly women has been given a “last chance” agreement by the department after multiple incidents of alleged police misconduct were uncovered.

James Griesenauer was reinstated this week after being put on administrative leave in March, according to a Journal & Topics report. He was accused of making homophobic comments directed toward a victim of domestic violence and urinating in public during a traffic stop.

Griesenauer, while responding to a domestic dispute between two men in a romantic relationship in January, told one of the men “if this relationship isn’t working he should move on and find someone else because ‘There are other d---s in the sea’,” according to documents the Journal obtained through a FOIA request.

Two months earlier, Griesenauer was documented as trying to conceal himself behind a squad car to urinate.
The police officer was also accused of mishandling a call to a local restaurant in which a man was said to have thrown a chair, injuring an employee. Reports indicate Griesenauer was heard on police radio saying the incident “really wasn’t a dispute, they asked him to leave and he did.”

But when his partner located the suspect nearby, Griesenauer allowed a family member to pick him up instead of charging him with battery.

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