CHICAGO — A South Shore man was held on $300,000 bail Saturday on charges he repeatedly slammed an officer’s head into the ground.
Tony Williams, 43, became combative when stopped by officers for speeding in the 2900 block of East 80th Street in South Chicago, police said. The officers had been responding to calls of shots fired in the area.
When an officer approached Williams' gray Buick LaSabre, he immediately said, unsolicited, "I had nothing to do with the gunshots," according to a police report.
Williams then made "furtive movements" near his waistline, leading the officer to believe he was armed. Williams began to comply with the officer's instruction to turn around and place his hands on top of his car after getting out of it, but he then "immediately turned around and attacked" the officer, prosecutors said.
Williams struggled with the two officers, and all three fell to the ground. Williams repeatedly slammed one officer's head into the pavement, causing him to briefly lose consciousness, prosecutors said.
Two other officers performing a traffic stop down the block heard yelling and responded to the scene to help take Williams into custody, prosecutors said.
Williams was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, resisting arrest and two traffic violations, police said. He has two previous convictions for armed robbery, prosecutors said.
The injured male officer, 38, was treated and released from Northwestern Hospital for a broken knee cap and cuts on his face, one of which required several stitches to his forehead, prosecutors said.
Williams was treated and released from Trinity Hospital for a minor cut above his eye, according to a police report.
Williams, a carpenter and painter, lives with his cousin and his cousin's three children in the 2700 block of East 77th Street, his public defender said.
