Chicago Man Charged with Threatening Lombard Police Officer

DuPage County State’s Lawyer Robert Berlin and Lombard Chief of Police Roy Newton introduced {that a} Chicago man has been charged with threatening a Lombard Police Officer. Daryl Meeks, 41 (d.o.b. 8/1/1980) of the 5400 block of W. Haddon Avenue, appeared in Bond Court docket yesterday afternoon the place Decide Robert Kleeman set bond at $150,000 with 10% to use. Meeks has been charged with two counts of Threatening a Public Official, a Class 3 Felony. He has additionally been charged with Misdemeanor DUI and different site visitors offenses.

On January 13, 2022, at roughly 1:54 a.m., a patrol officer with the Lombard Police Division noticed a car allegedly driving erratically. The car, allegedly pushed by Meeks, finally made an abrupt cease within the roadway at which era the officer performed a site visitors cease. Whereas talking with Meeks, the officer allegedly noticed an odor of alcohol and burnt hashish from the car. After allegedly failing discipline sobriety assessments, Meeks was positioned underneath arrest. As soon as again on the police station it’s alleged that Meeks requested how lengthy the officer that arrested him had been on the police pressure. It’s alleged that when knowledgeable that the officer was on the pressure for six years, Meeks made a gun form together with his palms and mentioned that “he (the officer) will not make it to 7 years.” It’s additional alleged that Meeks additionally said on to the officer “I hope your names on the police report, I will (expletive) you up on my youngsters. Thank God I did not have my gun on me tonight I’d have shot the (expletive) out you. If I’d have had my gun, I woulda shot the (expletive) out you once you requested me to step out the car.”

“My workplace takes any menace and even the notion of a menace in opposition to a public worker or elected official extraordinarily critically,” Berlin mentioned. “The allegation that Mr. Meeks threatened a regulation enforcement officer won’t be tolerated and will probably be met with the complete pressure of the regulation,” Berlin mentioned. “I thank the Lombard Police Division for his or her work on this case and for his or her continued efforts in preserving our roads secure. I’d additionally wish to thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Grace Barsanti and Kelly McKay for his or her work on this case.” 

“I commend the officer concerned on this case for his fantastic work in observing an allegedly impaired driver and getting that driver off the streets earlier than he injured himself or another person,” Newton mentioned. “Sadly, our officers are sometimes occasions confronted with the kind of threatening conduct alleged on this case. I thank State’s Lawyer Berlin and his workplace for submitting the suitable costs in opposition to this defendant.” 

Meek’s subsequent court docket look is scheduled for February 7, 2022, for arraignment in entrance of Decide Michael Reidy.

Members of the general public are reminded that this grievance incorporates solely costs and isn’t proof of the defendant’s guilt.  A defendant is presumed harmless and is entitled to a good trial wherein it’s the authorities’s burden to show his or her guilt past an affordable doubt. 

###