Man Shot By Joliet Police Was Picking Up Gun: Source

JOLIET, IL — A 36-year-old Joliet man who was shot three times by a Joliet police officer late Wednesday night on the city's southeast side is expected to recover from his injuries, the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force announced on Thursday.

A source also told Joliet Patch that the man shot by Joliet police is Ryan Reddick. Reddick was riding in the passenger seat of a car that Joliet officers tried to pull over for a traffic violation on Gardner Street.

"It was a routine traffic stop, 100 percent," the source said.

When the driver turned on to Linden Avenue to stop his car for police, Reddick ran from the car carrying his gun, the source said. The driver remained inside the car.

Two Joliet officers were on patrol together. One chased after Reddick, yelling for him to stop and drop the gun, the source said.

While Reddick was running in the dark on Linden Avenue, he dropped his gun, and then he went back to retrieve it from the ground, the source said. The officer was yelling at him not to touch the gun, and after Reddick bent down to pick the gun up, the officer shot him, the source said.

"He was facing the officer when he got shot," the source said. "He wasn't shot in the back at all."

Even though Reddick got shot three times, he still tried to get away from the officer, the source noted. He managed to get past a couple more houses on Linden Avenue before officers captured him.

Joliet Patch asked the source whether the Joliet officer appeared to be justified to shoot the 36-year-old passenger.

"I'm going to say yes," the source replied. "The gun falls out of his hand, he stops, and turns and picked it back up. He just as easily could have shot the officer."

On Thursday, the public information officer with the Will-Grundy task force indicated the shooting happened after a traffic stop, and a gun was recovered from the man fleeing police.

Joliet's officers rendered medical aid, and the wounded man remains hospitalized and is expected to recover, said Romeoville Police Chief Ken Kroll, who is the spokesman for the task force.

In February 2020, Joliet Patch reported that Reddick, then 34, was booked into the Will County Jail after Joliet Police said he fled from a traffic stop on Larkin Avenue and later sped his Dodge Journey toward one of the officers.

According to the complaint, Reddick was directed by the Joliet police "to bring his vehicle to a stop (but) willfully failed or refused to obey such direction and increased his speed ... and such flight or attempt to elude involved the disobedience of two or more official traffic control devices."

In his pending court case, Reddick is charged with aggravated assault, resisting a peace officer and aggravated fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer. He also still faces 25 separate traffic tickets of disregarding a stop sign on Feb. 12, 2020, two tickets for speeding more than 35 mph over the posted speed limit and one traffic ticket for speeding 21 to 25 mph over the limit, court files show.

A month after his 2020 arrest, Reddick hired Essington Road criminal defense lawyer Paul Napolski, and a Will County judge lowered Reddick's bail from $350,000 to $50,000, over the objections of the Will County State's Attorney's Office of Jim Glasgow, court records show.

Will County court records show that Reddick's four felony charges from 2020 have yet to go to trial. He had his most recent court hearing on March 24.

The task force will have further information as the investigation progresses, Kroll added.