An Aurora police officer on desk duty since he was charged with domestic battery last month is asking for his gun and FOID card back.
As a condition of his bond, Brian Shields, 46, had to turn those items over. While bail had been set at $5,000, he was released April 6 on his own recognizance, with further conditions including no contact with the plaintiff and staying away from a specific address.
Lacking a gun, Shields has been unable to act in his capacity as a patrol officer at the police department he’s been with for more than 12 years, his lawyer argued in a motion to amend conditions of bond.
“Without his FOID card and his ability to carry a firearm,” the motion claims, “Shields has been unable to work in his capacity as a patrol officer for the Aurora Police Department, and therefore has been, and continues to be, severely prejudiced.”
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The motion asks the court to change Shields’ bond conditions to allow him to carry his FOID card and service weapon, “so that he may resume his official duties as a police officer.”
Following Shields’ arrest, Aurora police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said the department had launched an internal investigation and put him on administrative duty.
Ferrelli on Wednesday declined to say whether Shields would, indeed, be allowed to return to patrol if a judge decided he could use a gun again.
In an email, Ferrelli confirmed Shields was still on restricted duty, but said it would be inappropriate to elaborate on the case because it involves an open internal investigation.
Shields’ attorney, Wheaton-based Kim DiGiovanni, has not returned a message left Wednesday with her office.
An order signed May 12 by Judge Kathryn Karayannis states that the motion to return Shields’ gun is reserved, pending an order of protection hearing. Karayannis also ordered Shields to obtain a full risk assessment by his next court date, which is May 24.
Federal law bans people convicted of qualifying offenses, including felonies and misdemeanor domestic violence, and anyone subject to a domestic violence protective order; from gun possession. Illinois prohibits people convicted of domestic battery and “substantially similar offenses” from obtaining a FOID card.
International Association of Chiefs of Police policy dictates that officers arrested on allegations of domestic violence have their weapons confiscated. Further, the association mandates that officers convicted of domestic violence crimes are to be fired.
Kane County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Shields April 5. He was charged with two counts of misdemeanor domestic battery, which are alleged to have taken place at a home in an unincorporated area of Aurora. Beyond keeping him in protective custody during his short time at the jail, officials treated Shields like everyone else who is arrested, said Kane County Sheriff spokesman Lt. Patrick Gengler.
Court filings accuse Shields of tripping another man, causing him to fall on a hardwood floor, after a dispute about sleeping arrangements, and subsequently striking the other man in the face and body, pushing him back down and causing him to hit his head on the floor, and biting his right index finger. After the man got away, according to court records, paramedics took him to a hospital, where he stayed overnight for diagnoses of a concussion and profuse nose bleeding.
“The petitioner ran away from the home and does not recall anything until he later awoke in an ambulance,” alleges a petition for an order of protection.
The petition further alleges that Shields had been physically and verbally abusive in the past.
Shields was suspended without pay for 11 days earlier this year, ending on Jan. 31, according to disciplinary records provided by the police department through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The suspension was for a September complaint alleging Shields violated both the standards for conduct and behavior and for unauthorized use of records, according to a suspension letter.
A performance complaint states that starting in early May 2016 through August, Shields had interactions with a female who worked at a convenience store that “turned into unwanted touch and ultimately a kiss on the cheek.”
Further, on two dates in 2016, May 8 and June 9, Shields improperly accessed her information from the police department’s records system, according to the complaint.
Shields worked as a reporter for The Beacon-News in the early 2000s.
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