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Kane County Chronicle

Geneva woman charged with felony hate crimes in alleged attack on police officer

Charges: Hate crimes tied to ‘actual or perceived sexual orientation’ of victim

Carol L. Ruzkowski was charged Nov. 27 with six counts of felony aggravated battery to a police officer, four counts of felony hate crimes and four misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault with the use of a deadly weapon.

A 51-year-old Geneva woman was charged with multiple felonies after police alleged she spit in an officer’s mouth and threatened to attack her neighbors, records show.

Carol L. Ruzkowski, of Geneva, was charged Nov. 25 with six counts of felony aggravated battery after police alleged she spit also on the officer’s chin and neck and kicked them in the abdomen during a public attack on Nov. 19.

After she was booked and released on those charges, weeks later she was arrested and charged again for allegedly violating the terms of her pretrial orders, records show.

Ruzkowski was charged with four counts of felony hate crimes in the Nov. 19 incident. Records allege that Ruzkowski attacked the officer “by reason of the actual or perceived sexual orientation of the victim,” according to the charging documents.

Ruzkowski also was charged with four misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, in that she allegedly approached and threatened her neighbors while armed with a miniature wooden baseball bat.

According to a Geneva police report, officers went to an address on South Lincoln Avenue at 5:45 p.m. on Nov. 19 in response to a 911 hang-up call.

When officers arrived, Ruzkowski approached holding a miniature baseball bat “and threatened to kill us if we stepped onto her property,” the report stated. “Ruzkowski approached me and stood within three feet of me with the miniature baseball bat extended in an aggressive manner.”

After a third officer arrived, police told her to drop the bat and she did, “but continued to be irate and make threatening statements,” the report stated.

Officers used force to handcuff Ruzkowski and to put her in the rear seat of a squad car because she resisted, the report stated.

Police called an ambulance, where she was strapped to an ambulance cot for the safety of herself and the personnel involved, the report stated.

Once at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital in Geneva, police also filed a petition to the state for emergency involuntary admission for a person with mental illness in need of hospitalization, documents show.

The petition stated Ruzkowski’s conduct put herself or others “in physical harm or in reasonable expectation of being physically harmed,” according to police reports and court documents.

Ruzkowski was taken to the University of Chicago Medicine AdventHealth GlenOaks in Glendale Heights. When she was discharged on Nov. 27, Geneva police went there and served her with an arrest warrant, according to a supplementary police report.

Ruzkowski said she understood she was being arrested, the supplementary report stated.

Police took her to the Kane County jail where she had a detention hearing the same day, Nov. 27, the report stated.

Circuit Judge Bianca Camargo put Ruzkowski on pretrial release and ordered her not to contact her neighbors, that she stay away from their house and to surrender any weapons, court records show.

Police searched Ruzkowski’s house for weapons and removed an air rifle, a toy gun and a sword, for safekeeping, the supplementary report stated.

While on pretrial release, Ruzkowski was charged Dec. 10 with felony aggravated battery to a police officer, violating a no-contact order and misdemeanor resisting arrest, however.

Kane prosecutors filed court papers the next day, Dec. 11, asking that Ruzkowski’s pretrial release be revoked.

“By clear and convincing evidence, there is no condition or combination of conditions of release that would reasonably ensure the appearance of the defendant for later hearings or prevent the defendant from being charged with a subsequent felony or ... misdemeanor,” according to the filing from Assistant State’s Attorney Jacki Kliment.

Camargo granted the request for Ruzkowski to be jailed over the defense’s objection records show.

Ruzkowski is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 17 on the newest charges and on Jan. 15, in both cases.

The most serious charges Ruzkowski faces are the four aggravated battery to a peace officer – three in the previous case and one in the newer case. They are Class 2 felonies punishable by four to seven years in prison and fines up to $25,000, or up to 48 months of probation, each, if convicted.

Ruzkowski’s attorney said she would not comment on her client’s case.

Brenda Schory

Brenda Schory

Brenda Schory covers Geneva, crime and courts, and features for the Kane County Chronicle