Mayor charged for driving police car with lights flashing

ALORTON, Ill. (AP) - The mayor of a southern Illinois city has been charged with official misconduct for operating a police vehicle with its lights flashing.

Alorton Mayor JoAnn Reed was charged late Friday, a couple of weeks after a driver told Illinois State Police it appeared a civilian female driver was impersonating a police officer.

The unidentified driver told police on Sept. 15, he saw a black police car with blue and red lights flashing and a sign on the driver's side door that stated "Mayor Jo Ann Reed." The car was traveling east on Interstate 64.

Alorton Village Board member Gwen McCallum, a frequent Reed critic, said the board had not given Reed permission to drive the car.

Reed's bail on the charge was set at $75,000, which she posted.

Reed could not be reached for comment. Her attorney, Justin Kuehn, declined to comment.

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Information from: Belleville News-Democrat, http://www.bnd.com