FOXX’S STAFF WAS CLOSELY INVOLVED IN INVESTIGATION OF DRIVER WHO ALLEGEDLY TRIED TO HIT HER WITH TRUCK, DOUSED HER WITH DRINK
Newly released records provide the clearest picture yet of last month’s strange attack on the Cook County state’s attorney
When a driver allegedly tried to hit Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx with his pickup truck and drenched her with soda after she had given him the finger, her chief investigator and security detail sprung into action and tracked the suspect to a library in Flossmoor, the Sun-Times has learned.
Hours after William Swetz was taken into custody on June 21, two Cook County prosecutors came to the Flossmoor police station to review the evidence that had been collected, according to investigatory reports obtained through an open records request.
The following day, one of the prosecutors conducted follow-up interviews with Foxx and a witness who saw the alleged attack in the 800 block of Sterling Avenue and informed police that Swetz would face felony charges.
The newly released records provide the clearest picture of the bizarre attack on Foxx. But they also show that her office was closely involved in the investigation and the decision to bring serious charges in the case.
During an interview at her home, Foxx told investigators that she gave Swetz the finger after he yelled at her to get out of the roadway as she was walking, records show. She said Swetz then hit the brakes and reversed toward her, forcing her to move out of the roadway.
Foxx repeatedly told police “that it was her belief that she was going to be struck by the offender’s pickup truck had she not moved out of the roadway as he abruptly reversed towards her,” records show. Foxx said she told Swetz that she had flipped him off as they argued, and he eventually threw liquid at her from a cup and drove off.
A witness who watched the incident unfold said she was alarmed, but didn’t consider that Swetz had tried to hit Foxx with the pickup. “That did not come to mind,” the witness told an investigator.
She said Swetz had told Foxx to “stay off the f------ road” and feared that something was going to “pop off” before watching Swetz toss the drink, records show. She said Foxx appeared “discombobulated,” and the witness feared that Swetz may have had a gun “because he looked like he would have one.”
Shortly after the attack, police learned that Josh Hunt, the chief of the state’s attorney’s investigative bureau, and other members of Foxx’s security detail had tracked Swetz’s GMC pickup truck to the library at 1000 Sterling Avenue.
The truck had “dried liquid streaks” on the driver’s side window and door and a Coca-Cola bottle in the center console, records show. The officer who approached Swetz appeared to know him, and the two exchanged pleasantries before Swetz was questioned about the incident.
Swetz ultimately admitted that he took a drink and “tossed it on her” but denied knowing who Foxx was, according to the records. He was ultimately placed in custody and taken to the police station, where he insisted that he “would never try to run someone over.”
“I did not, I did not,” he reportedly said of the allegation that he tried to run down Foxx. “I was five feet from her, I will admit that. … I mean, I threw a drink in her face, that’s it.”
Foxx and the witness, who were each interviewed twice, identified Swetz from a photo lineup, records show.
Foxx’s office remained closely involved with the investigation as it played out.
Hours after the incident, records show that prosecutors arrived at the police station to “review the investigation” and were provided with reports, photos of Swetz’s truck, video surveillance footage and body-worn camera footage of the interviews with Foxx and the witness.
The next day, one of the prosecutors informed police that Swetz was being charged with felony counts of aggravated battery and aggravated assault, records show. Police had initially only “drafted complaints for battery,” and Foxx’s complaint that Swetz tried to hit her led them to “look further into her aggravated assault allegations.”
Swetz initially appeared in court on June 23 and was ordered to have no contact with Foxx upon his release from custody. Days later, he was placed on electronic monitoring after he was allegedly seen on video driving past Foxx’s home after his initial court appearance.
He was indicted Thursday in the case, court records show. He’s scheduled to appear in court again on Friday.