Aurora Police Officer beaten & strangled by Illinois trio during traffic stop. Paul Sherrod and Jennifer & Sheba Taylor face felony charges.
Two women and a man face felony charges after beating and strangling an Illinois police officer who pulled them over during a traffic stop.
The Aurora Police Department announced Tuesday that Paul Sherrod, 28, Jennifer Taylor, 24, and Sheba Taylor, 26 as being charged with aggravated battery, resisting or obstructing a police officer causing injury and aggravated assault of a peace officer.
A male officer, whose name was not released, performed a traffic stop on Sherrod around 10:30 p.m. Monday after he allegedly rolled through a stop sign near the intersection of Plum Street and Randall Road near West Aurora High School, Fox 32 Chicago reported.
The vehicle, with two passengers inside later identified as Jennifer and Sheba Taylor, pulled into a driveway in the 600 block of North Elmwood Drive, and ‘the driver began yelling obscenities out the window,’ according to a press release from the police department.
A woman in the back seat then got out of the vehicle, and the officer ‘ordered her back into the car several times before informing her that she was under arrest for obstructing,’ police said. But there was more to come.
‘…lawlessness and violence’
Sherrod, continuing to yell obscenities, exited the vehicle, approached the officer and told the officer he would fight him if he touched the female passenger.
The officer informed the driver that he was also under arrest for obstructing, and at that moment, Sherrod took off running and the officer ran after him. A second woman exited the vehicle and both Sheba and Jennifer Taylor ran after the officers yelling obscenities.
At some point during the ensuing altercation, both women ‘began striking the officer with closed fists and kicking his body and head,’ police said. ‘The officer heard a male’s voice and then was struck repeatedly in the head from several angles.’ The female passenger ‘placed her forearm around the officer’s neck and applied significant force to his windpipe, causing him to lose the ability to breathe,’ according to the department.
The officer was taken to an area hospital Patch reported.
‘Our Aurora police officers are entrusted with keeping our community safe from harm. I am at a loss of words when an officer is physically attacked from something that would have been a simple traffic ticket,’ Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said in a statement according to FOXNEWS. ‘We will not allow our city to become a place where criminals feel emboldened, and lawlessness ensues.’
Additional officers arrived to the scene and placed the three suspects in custody. Aurora Fire Department paramedics responded to the scene and transported the officer to an area hospital.
Aurora Police’s Investigations Division responded to the scene, interviewed the subjects, and gathered numerous pieces of evidence. Detectives presented the case to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, which authorized felony charges against the three suspects.
‘This type of lawlessness and violence against our police officers cannot and will not be tolerated,’ said Mayor Richard C. Irvin. ‘This was an act of malice and cowardice and I will absolutely seek that the perpetrators are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Let’s keep this officer in our prayers as the officer makes a full and complete recovery.’
All three suspects appeared in Kane County Bond Call Tuesday morning. Bail for each of the Taylors was set at $50,000, with 10% to apply for bond. Sherrod’s bail was set at $75,000, also with 10% to apply for bond. Each suspect has a separate court date scheduled in July.
