Kim Foxx’s Office Mum on Driver Blamed In Trooper’s Death

CHICAGO, IL — The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office is coming under fire again. This time, a Chicago TV station is questioning why the office’s chief communications officer Tandra Simonton is not answering questions regarding how past cases for a wrong way driver, who killed Illinois State Trooper Gerald Ellis on I-294 on March 30, was handled and why the man was not behind bars. Officials have said Dan Davies of Calumet City had one of the worst driving records in Illinois history and there is no record that he ever held a driver’s license.

Wrong-Way Driver Who Killed Trooper Had No License, 70 Tickets

Davies was out on bond when the crash occurred, which killed him and Ellis, after being charged with six felony DUIs with no license—and that follows a decade of other charges and convictions for the 43-year-old man, according to NBC 5.

Over the past week and a half, NBC 5 reporters have reached out to Simonton to get answers, specifically requesting why a $3,000 I-bond was recently issued for Davies in a drunk driving case.

Reporter Phil Rogers sent the following questions via e-mail to Fox: “Did your office ever seek to keep him in custody. Did any Cook County prosecutor ever realize the extent of his record? Why did this man continue to drive a car?”

On Wednesday afternoon, after several follow-up emails and no response, NBC5 producer Katy Smyser sent an email letting Simonton know that she’d be forwarding the station’s e-mails to other employees within the state’s attorney’s office.

“The public documents in this case give us some basic information, but our key questions – namely, what role the state’s attorney’s office had in allowing Davies out in bond, or in trying to keep him behind bars – can only be answered by your office,” she wrote.

More via NBC5

MORE ON PATCH

• Where To Send Donations For Family Of ISP Trooper Gerald Ellis
• Watch Funeral Procession for Trooper Ellis