A Lake County sheriff's deputy has been charged with felony official misconduct after he allegedly responded to domestic battery call by doing nothing more than encourage a woman to get back in a car with a man who was suspected of striking her in the face.
In a news release, the sheriff's department says Deputy Leonard Patterson was booked into the county jail on Friday morning and released after he posted bond.
The release says Patterson was on duty in November 2017 when he was dispatched to a parking lot in response to a call that a man had struck a passenger of his vehicle.
Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Christopher Covelli says that when the department learned the woman had left with the suspect at Patterson's suggestion, an investigation was launched.
