Caught on Tape

Officer Crawford worked in Waukegan, IL prior to being hired by the Marengo Police Department. He was forced to resign from Waukegan after a $30,000 lawsuit where he was caught on videotape hitting a prisoner who was in his custody. The man he hit, Jose Gonzales, was a Mexican immigrant. Scott Crawford accused him of stealing a car, which happened to be his own, and after he arrested him and put him in handcuffs, he went back and hit the handcuffed man two times in the face. The incident was caught on tape by vigilant neighbors who saw the incident.
This is very important, as this police officer was hired in Marengo in 2003. A thorough background check would have turned up the fact that this officer was fired from his last job. However, in Marengo, the police and fire commission does the background checks and the person doing them at the time was a retired postal worker! So, this officer was hired in Marengo and went on to brutally attack various young people, including Kevin and Brian Gaughan. Up to that time, whoever had false charges brought against them pleaded guilty and plea bargained. The brothers decided to fight back, with serious consequences. More charges were added against them as a result, including aggravated assault, disorderly conduct, damage to state property(this was when Officer Crawford put Brian Gaughan’s face through a wall), and filing a false complaint against a police officer. Officer Crawford has been forced to resign from the Marengo Police Department, but not because of these incidents. Instead he was offered a severance package of $30,000. The two brothers are still fighting the charges falsely made against them. Nothing is being done by the State’s Attorney’s Office to drop the charges, even though the Gaughans have over twenty witnesses who saw the incident and will testify for them in court.

July 7,2006