Elmhurst Suspect 'Didn't Want To Be Racist': Cops

ELMHURST, IL – A woman told a police dispatcher last month that a truck driver had pulled a gun on her in Elmhurst, but later admitted he did not, police said.

As a result, Claudia Villanueva, 34, of Franklin Park, was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor disorderly conduct involving filing a false report.

Elmhurst Patch obtained the police report after filing a public records request.

On the afternoon of June 23, Villanueva reported a road rage incident near North Avenue and Oak Street.

She told a dispatcher that a semi-truck driver got out of his cab and pointed a gun at her, according to the report. She said the truck almost hit her as she was turning from Route 83 onto North Avenue.

When officers interviewed her, Villanueva said the truck driver put his hand in his waistband as if getting a gun, police said.

Officers also interviewed the truck driver and his 15-year-old son, who was his passenger. They said they never got out of the truck. The driver said Villanueva had cut him off.

The driver had no gun, but had a full magazine and a single bullet inside the cab, police said.

Officers informed Villanueva that the driver had no gun.

"I feel so bad," she was quoted as saying. "I don't want to be racist or come off that way."

The truck driver was African American.

She was asked why she told a dispatcher that the truck driver pointed a gun.

At first, she said she did not remember saying the driver pointed a gun.

She later said she was scared for her life.

"I don't know what he did... He put his hand in his waistband," Villanueva told officers.

She said that if she told the dispatcher she saw a gun, "I'm sorry," according to the report.

Asked whether the driver pointed a gun at her, she was reported as saying, "I don't think so, no... That's a huge problem."

Elmhurst police asked prosecutors to file felony charges against Villanueva, but were denied based on the facts of the case, according to the report.

Villanueva was released on bond.