Lake Co. Sheriff’s deputy charged with failing to investigate domestic battery

A Lake County Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with felony official misconduct after he allegedly failed to investigate a reported domestic battery last year.

Deputy Leonard Patterson, 38, was on duty Nov. 5, 2017, when he was dispatched to meet Waukegan Police officers at a parking lot in the 2900 block of Belvidere Road in Waukegan for reports of a domestic altercation, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli.

A male had been driving a vehicle with a female inside near Green Bay and York House roads in Beach Park when he hit her in the face, the sheriff’s office said. He eventually pulled the vehicle into the lot on Belvidere Road, where the victim asked a good Samaritan to call for help.

The Waukegan officers arrived and learned that the domestic battery had occurred in the sheriff’s office’s jurisdiction and called for a deputy to respond to the scene, the sheriff’s office said.

When Patterson arrived, he “failed to conduct any sort of investigation or make any effort to speak with any of the involved parties,” according to the sheriff’s office. He did not provide any assistance to the victim but encouraged her to get back in the vehicle with the suspect and leave the scene.

Waukegan police reported the incident to the sheriff’s office, at which point Sheriff Mark Curran relieved Patterson of his police powers and ordered an internal investigation, according to Covelli.

The investigation determined that Patterson failed to take actions that were required of him by law, including arresting an abuse suspect, offering the victim information, referring her to an accessible service agency or making a written police report, the sheriff’s office said.

Patterson, who lives in Port Barrington, was charged with four felony counts of official misconduct and turned himself in Friday morning at the Lake County Jail, according to the sheriff’s office.

His bail was set at $10,000 and he was released after posting bond. His next court date was scheduled for April 5.