Officer Erin Zilka Still On Paid Leave 7 Months After Fatal Crash

JOLIET, IL, IL — A Joliet Patch Freedom of Information Act request to the city of Joliet shows that Joliet Police Officer Erin Zilka has received about $51,170 since being placed on paid leave from work seven months ago. Since late January, Zilka has continued to get a paycheck of $3,655 every two weeks for staying away from the Joliet Police Department.

Zilka, now 36, was the off-duty officer involved in a fatal crash along Interstate 55 near Plainfield on Sunday, Jan. 19. The 6 a.m. crash killed her passenger, 33-year-old off-duty Berwyn police officer Charles Schauer of Glen Ellyn.

The Illinois State Police charged Zilka with misdemeanor driving under the influence of alcohol. She also faces one traffic infraction of failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.

At no point since the fatal crash has Zilka returned to the Joliet Police force. In the alternative, the administration of Chief Al Roechner has opted to keep Zilka on the payroll and not have her perform her regular police duties. As a result, Zilka has received 14 regular paychecks since being put on paid leave from the police department, Joliet Patch determined.

Separately, Joliet Patch requested any public records involving disciplinary actions that have been issued against Zilka in connection with the crash that left her passenger dead.

"Patch also seeks access to any Internal Affairs memos notifying Zilka of any violations of department policy or procedure stemming from the January crash," Patch wrote.

However, at no point during the past seven months has the Joliet Police Department administration issued any sanctions or disciplinary measures against Zilka related to the crash, Patch has learned.

"Please note, there are no responsive documents for part B of your request," a city of Joliet employee recently notified Patch.

Meanwhile, Zilka is not scheduled to be back at the Will County Courthouse related to her DUI charge until her next pretrial hearing Sept. 22.

Zilka is being represented by the downtown Joliet firm, Tomczak Law Group.

"She is completely devastated," her criminal defense lawyer Jeff Tomczak told Joliet Patch in late January. "I can't say how sad she is. She is completely and totally devastated. It's beyond my ability to express it."

Zilka is in her seventh year on the Joliet Police Department. Before that, she worked for six years at the Shorewood Police Department.

The Illinois State Police said Zilka was driving a Dodge Durango when it struck a box truck that had been involved in a previous crash on southbound I-55 just north of Route 30.

Police said the crash happened just after 6 a.m. A Hino box truck driven by a Shorewood man had been involved in a previous crash and had come to rest in the right two lanes of traffic.

The Dodge driven by Zilka approached the earlier crash scene, hitting the back of the box truck, according to state police.

Tomczak said it's important to remind people that a different driver other than his client was responsible for causing the initial crash with the box truck.

Rodrigo Marin, 42, is charged with two counts of felony aggravated DUI, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, improper lane use, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, failure to render aid, no valid driver's license and driving while license revoked.

Tomczak has stressed it was completely dark and believes that his client did not have time to react to avoid hitting the other vehicles that came to a rest in the first two southbound lanes of I-55. "This all was happening in real time," Tomczak said. "So this is the second crash."