Officer Jared Dausch has been charged with beating two women and driving drunk. Indiana State Police say more charges could follow.
State police say a fight with officer Dausch's fiancee, Christina Good, spiraled out of control Saturday night when he hit Good and her friend. Later they say Dausch broke into a home where the two women went for safety. Not long after that, Dausch was pulled over and arrested for drunk driving.
Several residents say they are not surprised at what happened. Resident Michael Whiteford says he’s had run-ins with Officer Dausch before. "The way I look at him now, he's under some kind of power trip," Whiteford says. "He has that badge and he thinks he can shove other people around."
An original complaint against Whiteford shows he was arrested by officer Dausch in 2004 for public intoxication. A year later the charges were dismissed. Whiteford claims he was threatened by Dausch when all he was doing was drinking coffee outside his apartment building.
"We was asking the officer what's going on here. I thought I was a suspect in a robbery or something. He kept screaming get down on the ground...get down on the ground," says Whiteford.
Aurora police wouldn't comment on Dausch's arrest or his record. But in the department's lobby you'll find Dausch's name on a plaque. In 2006 he was named officer of the year. The plaque won't tell you the year before Dausch was suspended for conduct unbecoming an officer. His four years on the force have been troubled.
"There's good officers here in Aurora, but we also got some crooked ones in Aurora," says Whiteford.
In 2005, Dausch was suspended for 15 days after investigators found he was showing compromising pictures of a female reserve officer. Dausch said at the time those pictures were nothing beyond what you'd find in sports illustrated. In 2004 Dausch was investigated by the Dearborn County Sheriff's Department for allegations of battery on his then pregnant girlfriend. Dausch denied those allegations.
