Trial begins in I-90 police chase that ended with gunfire in Elgin

Hurtling westward on Interstate 90 with a trail of Chicago police behind him, Andrzej Wojtkielewicz did not want to get caught, prosecutors said.

He tossed plastic bags of cocaine out of his Mercedes SUV and tried to run over a cop at an Elgin toll plaza before he was shot once in the chest, ending a chase that began in Chicago, prosecutors said.

“Some of the baggies actually hit the squad car,” said Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Mark Stajdohar in his opening argument Monday afternoon in Wojtkielewicz's trial. “They found chunks of cocaine littering the highway.”

Wojtkielewicz, 23, of the 900 block of Tennessee Lane, Elk Grove Village, faces charges of attempted first-degree murder of a police officer and aggravated battery to a police officer. If convicted, he faces up to 80 years in prison.

Stajdohar said the chase began at about 9 a.m. July 14, 2009, at Central and Diversey avenues on Chicago's West side after an informant told undercover cops a man in a silver SUV had 2½ to 3 kilogram bricks of cocaine. Police tried to arrest the driver, but he sped off and eventually got on outbound Interstate 90.

The chase at times topped 100 mph before officers stopped the SUV at the Route 31 toll plaza in Elgin.

Stajdohar said officers surrounded Wojtkielewicz's vehicle, but he backed up and sped forward — tires squealing — toward another officer before the officer opened fire and shot him once in the chest.

“The defendant tried to kill a police officer,” Stajdohar said.

Defense attorney Richard Brezeczek said the physical evidence against his client doesn't add up. He noted that the SUV did not leave any tire marks at the toll plaza indicative of squealing, that original police dispatches said the driver had a “possible weapon” and that Wojtkielewicz was not charged with any drug offenses, either.

Brezeczek also argued that once his client was shot, he grabbed his chest and then put the SUV in park, thereby preventing it from moving forward toward the officer.

The jury trial before Judge David Akemann is expected to run late into the week, possibly until next Monday.