A Grundy County sheriff’s deputy was in “very good shape” Friday after his protective vest stopped two of three bullets fired at him during a traffic stop and chase, officials said.
“We’re very, very lucky that the ballistic vest stopped those two bullets,” Sheriff Ken Briley told reporters Thursday night.
The deputy had tried to stop a car on Route 47 and Dupont Road near the town of Mazon near Morris shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday but the car sped away, Briley said.
The car hit two other cars before coming to a stop near a railroad crossing at Grand Ridge Road in Mazon, he said. The suspect ran off and the deputy chased him.
The deputy got within an “arms length or two” of the suspect when he turned around and fired at the deputy, Briley said.
One bullet hit him in the forearm but the two others, which hit him in the chest and the back — were stopped by his bulletproof vest, the sheriff said.
The suspect, 18-year-old Demarcus T. Denwiddie of Joliet, was arrested and charged with attempted murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated battery. He was ordered held in Grundy County Jail on $10 million bail.
Before Thursday, a police officer had not been shot in Grundy County in 15 years, Briley said.
