McCullom Lake PD drops 60 charges

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
September 16, 2010

Officer James O'Doherty was cleared in court on Monday of driving on a revoked license, when the McCullom Lake Police Department dropped traffic charges against him that were filed by Kelly Given, now former chief of that department.

Given must have had it in for O'Doherty, because she filed 60 separate traffic violations against O'Doherty, alleging that he had driven a McCullom Lake PD squad car on 60 different dates when he was working and during a time when his driving privileges were revoked. There seems to be a major problem with some of the dates of the charges, because they included dates when O'Doherty was not working and even dates when he was out-of-state. Given had been hired in October as chief of the small department and has since been relieved of those leadership duties.

O'Doherty rode as a passenger in the patrol car while another officer drove. Last time I checked, a driver's license wasn't required for a passenger. Did Illinois law change? Did someone forget to tell me?

Village officials (represented by the Village Attorney, the law firm of Zanck, Coen & Wright, P.C., Crystal Lake) dropped the charges against O'Doherty. The NWH reporter was unable to reach Village President Terry Counley or Village Attorney Jeremy Shaw for comment.

The Northwest Herald devoted considerable column inches to old news involving O'Doherty.