A former Joliet police officer was found guilty of domestic battery by a Kendall County judge after a bench trial Thursday.
Peter Ranstead, a former Joliet detective and school resource officer, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and one count of interfering with filing a police report in connection to a Sept. 28, 2024 incident, in which his wife Caleigh Ranstead, reported he pushed her into a doorframe during an argument, resulting in a head injury.
He was found guilty on all three counts.
The charges were filed in October 2024 and Ranstead was placed on administrative leave. Following an internal investigation by the Joliet Police Department, his employment was terminated in November 2025.
After nine hours of testimony before Judge Lisa Accardi in which both Ranstead and his wife told their version of what happened that night, Accardi said she found Caleigh “more credible” and pointed to pieces of Ranstead’s testimony that “didn’t make sense.”
The incident occurred after the now-estranged couple had attended a wedding on the day of the incident in which Caleigh Ranstead was a bridesmaid.
Peter Ranstead accused Caleigh Ranstead of flirting with a groomsman at the wedding, according to testimony. Peter Ranstead testified his wife kissed the man on the cheek.
Caleigh Ranstead said she was just talking with the man.
The pair left the wedding early and both said they argued in the car until Peter Ranstead turned the music up to drown out the voice of Caleigh Ranstead, according to court testimony.
Both admitted to having been drinking during the evening. During testimony, Caleigh Ranstead described her condition as “buzzed,” saying she had had about five drinks throughout the day. Peter Ranstead portrayed her as extremely intoxicated and “irrational.”
Body camera footage taken by responding police later that evening showed Caleigh Ranstead walking around the couple’s Joliet home, including up and down stairs. She appeared emotionally distressed but showed no visible signs of intoxication, prosecutors said,
Caleigh Ranstead testified she went into the couple’s bedroom and picked up their 6-month-old son while Peter Ranstead helped her mother, who had been babysitting, into the car.
As the two argued about where Peter Ranstead would be sleeping, Caleigh Ranstead testified he told her she would be the one sleeping in another room, before “grabbing her shoulders.”
“He wasn’t grabbing me too hard,” she said, noting that she did not resist, but turned to face her son on the bed. “I know that he’s trained to do takedowns. He’s a lot bigger than me,” she said.
Caleigh Ranstead testified that her husband pulled her off the bed and pushed her back across the room and out the door “very hard.”
“I fell very fast. I fell and hit the back of my head against the door of into the laundry room,” she said.
Caleigh Ranstead said she did not know if Peter saw her hit the adjacent doorframe because he closed the bedroom door and locked it.
Caleigh Ranstead testified that she did not immediately realize she was injured because her focus was getting to her son. She said she kicked down the bedroom door and went to the bed where she then realized she was bleeding from the back of the head.
Caleigh Ranstead said she went to the attached master bathroom, which is adjacent to Peter Ranstead’s closet, where he was retrieving personal items.
Caleigh Ranstead testified that she showed Peter her blood covered hand and told him she was hurt, but he minimized it, saying she had just cut her hand.
In his own testimony, Peter Ranstead said he believed the blood was from a minor hand injury.
Caleigh Ranstead testified Peter Ranstead was not going to provide aid, and that she was “scared.” She said she dialed 911 to get medical help, but her husband took the phone from her and hung up.
The dispatcher called back and Peter Ranstead answered Caleigh’s phone stating “it’s Pete.” The dispatcher recognized his voice and he apologized before hanging up again, she said.
Caleigh Ranstead said she called 911 again using her Apple Watch’s emergency call function.
Peter Ranstead left the house before police officers arrived.
Recordings of Caleigh’s 911 call were played in court Thursday.
In his testimony, Peter Ranstead said he didn’t know how the first 911 call got disconnected and that Caleigh “slid me the phone on the bathroom counter” and said “pick it up” when the dispatcher called back.
He also said he told the dispatcher the first call “was an accident,” something that the recording played in court did not reflect.
The day after the incident, two Joliet police detectives arrived at the Ranstead’s house to conduct a wellness check on Caleigh, during which she recanted part of her statement.
One of the responding officers, Sgt. Aaron Bandy, testified on Thursday that he called Caleigh early in the day to say he would be coming over later. When asked by prosecutors if wellness checks were standard procedure after a domestic violence call, he stated that it is not normal protocol, “but this was not a typical case.”
Bandy said Peter Ranstead was not home when he visited, although he had returned home late on the night of the incident.
Bandy said he was there “primarily to see if she [Caleigh] was safe,” but said he never got within more than a few feet of her and did not observe any injuries. He said did not ask to see any.
“She alluded to the fact that she’d been drinking and seemed unsure of what happened the night before,” Bandy said. “She seemed a little confused.”
Bandy testified that he has known Peter Ranstead professionally for over a decade and that they were “friendly” but said they do not socialize together and did not work closely together.
“I never wanted to get him [Peter] in trouble,” Caleigh Ranstead testified, noting that she never thought he meant for her to hit the door, which she told officers the night of the incident.
She said she only called for emergency services because she was worried about her injury. When given the chance to provide a written complaint to responding officers she declined.
Caleigh Ranstead testified she was afraid her husband would lose his job and she did not want to lose her family.
She told Bandy that she had been drinking at the wedding and did not fully remember the events of the night. She also said that her husband and his friend, another Joliet officer, had encouraged her to change her statement before Bandy arrived.
Peter Ranstead’s attorney, Rose Bertani, argued the modified statement fit the facts of Caleigh Ranstead drinking at the wedding, and suggested she simply fell after, as Peter put it, “he guided her out of the room.”
“It’s clear she had consumed alcohol, whether she was intoxicated or to what extent has been debated, but I do not see how it’s relevant,” Accardi said. “If the insinuation is she fell on her own without any force, the court finds that it is just not plausible based on the evidence we’ve heard and the video interactions with the detectives.”
Accardi said she believed this meant Caleigh did not have time or motive to fabricate the story.
“It is not uncommon in domestic violence cases for victims to be uncooperative or to recant at some point,” she said. “She minimized her statements to protect her marriage and the defendant’s job. She was reporting directly to her husband’s employer, which was the main income source for the household. It makes sense she was intimidated.”
Caleigh Ranstead also testified about another incident which had occurred in June 2024, in which she stated her husband hit her in the face with a pizza pan during an argument.
In that case she also went to the police, this time in Shorewood, and later recanted her statement she said in order to avoid problems with the Joliet Police Department.
Caleigh said she had still wanted to make her marriage work, and tried to do so until February 2025. She filed for divorce two months later.
Ranstead’s sentencing has been scheduled for April 17 at the Kendall County Courthouse. The convictions will eliminate his ability to own a firearm, thus disqualifying him from future law enforcement work.