William Swetz, the person accused of backing his pickup towards former Prepare dinner County State’s Legal professional Kim Foxx and throwing a Massive Gulp of root beer in her face throughout a roadside confrontation, quietly went on trial final month in Markham.
The 2-day bench trial was held earlier than Decide Tiana Blakely, with the Illinois Legal professional Common’s Workplace prosecuting Swetz on felony counts of aggravated assault with a motorized vehicle and aggravated battery in a public place.
Assistant Legal professional Common Suzanne Collins of the AG’s Legal Prosecutions and Trials Help Bureau informed the courtroom that Swetz was supplied a plea deal—plead responsible to one of many felonies, his selection, in alternate for probation and anger administration lessons—however he turned it down.
The trial acquired off to a rocky begin when Swetz confirmed up hours late. “The State has out-of-town witnesses, and I didn’t need to inconvenience individuals who got here right here from out of city,” Decide Blakely stated, explaining why she determined to not jail him on the spot.
The case stems from a June 2024 confrontation close to Foxx’s house in Flossmoor. Then nonetheless in workplace, Foxx was out for a morning stroll round 10:30 a.m. when Swetz drove by in his GMC pickup.
Foxx, who was strolling alongside the sting of the roadway as a substitute of the sidewalk, informed police that Swetz yelled, “Get the f**** off the highway b****!” She responded by flipping him off. Swetz allegedly drove a brief distance, then threw his truck into reverse, zigzagging towards her within the reverse lane and forcing her to leap onto the curb to keep away from being hit. When he stopped, the 2 exchanged extra phrases earlier than Swetz allegedly hurled the contents of his Massive Gulp cup in her face.
Throughout opening statements, Collins informed the courtroom that Swetz “used his pickup truck and a full cup of soda pop for exacting revenge on Ms. Foxx.”
Assistant Public Defender Michael Herzog, an lawyer supervisor within the Felony Trial Division, noticed issues in another way. He known as it “a regrettable incident however noncriminal encounter between my shopper and a uniquely empowered complaining witness.”
Herzog and co-counsel Colleen Gorman argued that the case was handled in another way due to who the complainant was. “We’re wanting… at a misdemeanor elevated for inappropriate causes,” Herzog stated.
Foxx, the primary witness, gave an in depth account of the encounter. “The occupant of the truck stated, ‘Get the fuck out the road, bitch,’ as he drove by,” she testified. “I flipped him off first after which continued with my stroll.”
After noticing the truck’s brake lights, she stated she realized Swetz was reversing “at full pace” and “zigzagging.” “I believed he was going to hit me,” she stated, explaining that she jumped onto the curb to keep away from him.
When Swetz stopped subsequent to her, Foxx stated he requested, “‘Did you flip me off, bitch?’ … I stated, ‘I did.’” Then, she testified, “The following factor I do know, he got here up with a giant cup, and he threw it straight into my face.” She later informed police the soda tasted like root beer.
Herzog questioned whether or not Foxx was actually horrified throughout the incident.
“On the time of him backing his automobile as much as you, you weren’t in reality afraid on your bodily security?” he requested.
Foxx replied she “was completely afraid for my bodily security. I used to be horrified.”
“You by no means informed the police that, right?”
“I described to the police what occurred. I didn’t inform the police that I moist my pants, however I’ll let you know,” she revealed.
One other Flossmoor resident, Jennifer Pidgeon, testified that she noticed the incident whereas gardening. She stated it was “completely not” uncommon for folks to stroll on the street in that space.
Pidgeon recalled Swetz stopping abruptly, then dashing in reverse “in a zigzag movement… very quick.”
She noticed him throw “a cup stuffed with brown liquid” at Foxx and thought “an atrocity was about to occur.” She ran inside to get towels for the shaken Foxx, who she stated appeared “discombobulated.”
Flossmoor Detective Daniel Weaver testified that he later discovered Swetz’s truck parked at a close-by library with “brown dried liquid streaks on the driving force’s door.” Swetz, who was contained in the library, initially denied involvement however admitted to throwing the drink after being informed there was video proof, Weaver stated.
The detective additionally confirmed that police initially ready solely misdemeanor battery fees, which displeased Foxx. “We agreed to disagree on the misdemeanor battery,” he stated, confirming that Foxx—then nonetheless Prepare dinner County’s State’s Legal professional—“needed extra fees.”
Throughout closing arguments, Assistant Legal professional Common Lorraine Scaduto—who till lately spent years prosecuting violent crimes for the Prepare dinner County State’s Legal professional’s Workplace—rejected the protection’s declare that Foxx obtained particular therapy.
“We’re not right here due to who she is,” Scaduto stated. “We’re right here due to what the defendant did on that day.”
She stated Foxx “was so frightened—petrified was her phrase—that this two-ton pickup truck being pushed by the defendant was going to hit her, that she jumped onto the parkway to get out of the best way.”
“He grabbed the drink that was within the middle console. He decided to take the highest off, after which he made one other determination to throw the contents of that cup into the sufferer’s face,” Scaduto argued. “An outsized response.”
Herzog countered that prosecutors overreached. “Outsized response,” he scoffed. “Decide, we’re right here primarily as a result of there are outsized fees. That is a few second of mutual anger between two adults… a verbal altercation that briefly escalated to an offensive contact, battery of the misdemeanor type.”
Collins closed for the state by accusing the protection of “victim-blaming.” “They’ve now taken this younger girl who was strolling in her personal neighborhood and terrorized by this defendant right into a site visitors offender,” she argued. “The protection is attempting to inform this Court docket how the sufferer ought to have reacted… Miss Foxx was very open, very trustworthy, and he or she was traumatized by this.”
Decide Blakely is anticipated to ship her verdict on November 17.
This story is predicated on official transcripts of the proceedings bought by CWBChicago with the assistance of our subscribers. You possibly can assist our work right here.
