Man exonerated of murder arrested in Rosemont

A Park Ridge man who spent more than 16 years in prison for a murder he did not commit was arrested Friday night after an argument with a Rosemont public safety officer on the Jane Addams Tollway, officials said.

Thaddeus Jimenez, 31, threatened to attack a Rosemont officer near the River Road Toll Plaza on I-90 at about 7:20 p.m. Friday night, said Rosemont Public Safety Sgt. Keith Kania.

Kania said Jimenez and the officer got into the argument when the officer told him to move his 2000 Dodge Durango. An unidentified driver near the toll plaza had called for help, saying he or she was having a heart attack, and the officer was moving traffic out of the way of the approaching rescue vehicles.

Kania said Jimenez got out of the Durango, and threatened the officer while moving toward him "in a threatening manner."

That officer, and another officer at the scene, took Jimenez down on the tollway and cuffed him, Kania said.

Jimenez was charged with aggravated assault, resisting a peace officer and possession of less than 2.5 grams of marijuana, Kania said.

He was freed after posting 10 percent of the $1,000 bond, officials said. Kania did not know when Jimenez was expected in court.

In a sensational case, Jimenez was only 13 when he was convicted of the 1993 murder of Eric Morro on the Northwest side of Chicago.

He was released from prison in 2009 after the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions determined he had been wrongfully convicted.

At the time of his release, his attorneys said they believed Jimenez was the youngest person in U.S. history to be wrongfully convicted and then exonerated.