3 charged with beating, choking Aurora police officer during traffic stop

Three people are accused of beating and choking an Aurora police officer during a traffic stop in the west suburb Monday.

Jennifer Taylor, 24, Sheba Taylor, 26, and Paul Sherrod, 28, are each charged with aggravated battery, obstructing a peace officer and aggravated assault of a peace officer, Aurora police said in a statement.

The attack occurred around 10:30 p.m. after an officer pulled over a car that had rolled through a stop sign at Plum Street and Randall Road, police said.

Sherrod, who was driving the car, “began yelling obscenities out of the window” after stopping in the 600 block of North Elmwood Drive, police said. Moments later, a back seat passenger got out of the car.

The officer ordered the passenger to get back in several times, and when she refused, he told her she was under arrest for obstruction, police said. Sherrod then got out of the car and told the officer he would fight him if he touched the woman.

Sherrod ran after the officer told him he was also under arrest and the officer chased after him, police said. Sheba Taylor and Jennifer Taylor, who were riding in the car, ran after them.

Jennifer Taylor and Sheba Taylor approached the officer and began striking him, police said. The officer “heard a male’s voice and then was struck repeatedly in the head from several angles.”

One of the women placed her forearm around the officer’s neck and “applied significant force to his windpipe,” police said. Additional officers responded to the scene and took the trio into custody.

Jennifer Taylor and Sheba Taylor were each ordered held on $50,000 bail. Sherrod’s bail was set at $75,000. They were all scheduled to appear back in court in July.