A west suburban man convicted of trying to kill a police officer with a metal pipe was found guilty but mentally ill of attempted murder on Thursday, and faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced.
Levan C. Davis, 22, Bolingbrook, tried “to kill a Bolingbrook police officer by striking him in the head with a metal pipe during a domestic disturbance in August 2013,” according to a statement from the Will County state’s attorney’s office.
Davis was convicted Thursday of attempted murder and two counts of aggravated battery following a bench trial. He will face 6-30 years in prison when he is sentenced May 28, and the guilty but mentally ill verdict means he will receive mental health treatment while in state prison, prosecutors said.
Bolingbrook officers Eli Limacher and Jason Mitchem responded to a domestic violence call at Davis’ home in the 300 block of Walnut Circle on Aug. 7, 2013, according to prosecutors.
Davis, who has a “history of mental illness and contacts with police,” was “threatening to kill his father during an argument over the television remote control,” prosecutors said.
Davis was found in the garage “shouting obscenities,” and when officers came in he “picked up a four-foot long metal pipe and struck Officer Limacher in the head after ignoring orders to place his hands on a vehicle in the garage,” according to the statement.
Officer Mitchem shot Davis twice — in the arm and in the back — to protect Limacher, who suffered a serious head injury, prosecutors said.
“These officers demonstrated tremendous courage as well as restraint during a volatile situation that could have turned deadly in an instant,” state’s attorney James Glasgow said in the statement.
“I personally reviewed this case and determined that Officer Mitchem had used appropriate force to subdue the assailant and save Officer Limacher’s life,” Glasgow said. “The guilty verdict handed down today in the criminal case assures a prison sentence for Levan Davis.”
