Hit-and-run driver charged with striking Chicago police officer directing traffic

The police sergeant was in Jackson Park on June 11 when Joshua Hudson, 21, struck him with a stolen vehicle, police said.

SHARE Hit-and-run driver charged with striking Chicago police officer directing traffic
Police say a 34-year-old man attacked a Chicago police officer July 13, 2022, near Grant Park.

Sun-Times file

A man allegedly drove into a Chicago police sergeant directing traffic on the South Side and sped away while the officer held onto the hood of the car.

The sergeant was working in Jackson Park on June 11 when Joshua Hudson disregarded signals from the sergeant and accelerated toward him, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

Hudson, 21, struck the sergeant and continued to speed east, swerving repeatedly to throw the sergeant from the hood, Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Hanichak said.

Hudson then slammed on the brakes, throwing the sergeant from the hood and into a parked car in the 1700 block of East Hayes, Hanichak said. The sergeant was treated for contusions to his legs.

Officers recorded the license plate of the Lexis that Hudson was allegedly driving. Hudson had stolen the car from someone he knew earlier, Hanichak said.

Hudson was arrested Tuesday on the Far South Side and eventually admitted to police in a video-recorded interview that he was driving the Lexis, Hanichak said. Cellphone records place Hudson at the area of the crash and the home from where the car was stolen, he said.

Hudson claimed he did not strike the sergeant, but that the sergeant had climbed on the hood of the car before he sped off, Hudson’s attorney said.

Judge Barbara Dawkins ordered him held on $300,000 cash bail on charges of attempted murder of an officer, possession of a stolen vehicle and aggravated battery to an officer.

The Latest
The Cubs might miss the playoffs and the White Sox might lose 100 games, but things haven’t been all bad. Here’s our city’s best lineup, starting pitcher and three-man bullpen based on this season.
Northern Illinois, Chicago State and Northeastern Illinois commit to new standardized financial aid offers. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern, University of Chicago haven’t signed on.
The late Mitchell Caton and Calvin Jones’ 1981 painting recently was repainted. Another artist, unaware, began painting over it: “If he’d gone another 10 minutes, it could’ve been gone.”
The walkouts add to strikes called last week at two parts distribution centers in the suburbs.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, a centrist Democrat who was elected to the Senate in 1992, was the oldest sitting U.S. senator.