COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Prosecutors said a 25-year-old New City man dragged a University of Illinois at Chicago cop down a street after being discovered with a loaded handgun and drugs Saturday.
Around 2:45 Saturday morning, UIC police responding to gunshots in the area of the 700 block of South Claremont Avenue came across a blue 2009 Cadillac Escalade with its lights off. Inside, officers saw Matthew Louis, Jr., of the 700 block of West 50th Street, and a loaded handgun on the passenger-side floor, police said. Louis refused to exit the vehicle, police said.
Instead, Louis shifted the car into drive and sped away, dragging an officer and causing injuries to the officer's right hip and thigh.
Louis drove westbound on Flournoy Street in the wrong direction on the one-way street, prosecutors said. He then turned left onto Western Avenue driving south in the northbound lane before striking a concrete divider.
He was taken into custody, and police found a loaded pistol and 5.5 grams of what they suspected to be marijuana, prosecutors said.
Louis allegedly told police he "had been drinking a lot while at a party" and "knows he shouldn't drive drunk." He was transported to Stroger Hospital with injuries to his right hip and ankle.
Louis tested positive for marijuana and the psychotropic drug benzodiazepine, and had a blood alcohol level of .04 when he was tested later Saturday morning, police said.
He was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer, aggravated fleeing with bodily harm and DUI. He was also ticketed for several traffic violations.
He was held on $100,000 bail Sunday morning.
