Latest / Illinois Valley - Shaw Local / Lawmaker to crack down on police chases after Earlville case
Transcript
- 0:05Lawmaker to crack down on police chases after Earlville case. Written by
- 0:10Tom Collins. This article is being read by an automated voice brought
- 0:15to you by Everlit. The police chase case that critically injured an
- 0:20Earlville police officer is finally over. The fleeing motorist got two years
- 0:25in prison, but a local lawmaker said Thursday she isn't finished trying
- 0:29to secure more time for those who cause injury in police chases.
- 0:33State Censor Sue Reason, R. Morris, confirmed she intends to reintroduce Senate
- 0:39bill 112, which would increase penalties for motorists who run from police
- 0:43and hurt others. That legislation introduced in early 2025 died in committee,
- 0:48but Reason thinks the bill may still have a future in Springfield.
- 0:52My honest guess is we will not see it in veto session,
- 0:55Reason said, all but ruling out fresh debate when the legislator reconvenes
- 1:00next month. I will recall it next legislative session. But it is
- 1:04incredibly difficult to get criminal enhancements passed. I do not think we
- 1:09have had a bill with enhancements passed since the Safety Act was
- 1:12passed. Reason's comment comes just days after 29-year-old Jaquia Roy was
- 1:18sentenced to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the
- 1:222021 crashed that injured Jesus Alonso, the an Earlville police officer. Roy
- 1:28was clocked more than one hundred miles per hour when she sped
- 1:31through a residential area of Mendota, were the posted limit is 45
- 1:35miles per hour. Alonso gave chase but then crashed his cruiser on
- 1:39US 34 near the Meriden Township building, fracturing two vertebrae in his
- 1:44neck. He has not returned to the Earlville Police Department. Out of
- 1:48the gate, authorities were unhappy that Roy's only applicable charge was the
- 1:52aggravated fleeing and eluding, a Class IV felony carrying one to three
- 1:57years, and that a more serious charge wasn't available, given the risk
- 2:01to the public, as well as the injuries to Alonso. Reasons set
- 2:05about trying to change that. Under the bill she filed in january
- 2:09twenty twenty five, soon after Roy decided not to show for re
- 2:12sentencing, after she violated probation. Fleeing, motorists would face escalator Class when
- 2:18somebody was hurt in a police pursuit. Charges would, for example, be
- 2:22increased from a Class IV to a Class III felony, up to
- 2:26five years in prison, if the chase resulted in bodily injury to
- 2:29any bystander or member of the public. Any injury to a police
- 2:33officer would be a Class II felony, maximum seven years, and a
- 2:37disabling injury, such as what Alonso sustained, would bring up to fifteen
- 2:41years to the motorist.