Officials: Police had no reason to frisk man shot in hospital
Illinois State Police officials said they had no reason to run a criminal-background check or frisk a Waukegan man hours before he was shot and killed by police when he pulled out a concealed handgun in a Highland Park hospital emergency room.
Christopher M. Anderson, 27, had a violent criminal history and was paroled from prison in May, but that was unknown to troopers because he was not arrested or combative toward them during their investigation of a DUI-related accident on I-94 near Lake-Cook Road at 11 p.m. Sunday.
Anderson was a front-seat passenger in the crash, authorities said. His daughter, Alaysia, was injured while riding in the back seat.
Monique Bond, a spokeswoman for the Illinois State Police, said troopers who processed the accident scene and charged George Moore, 30, of Chicago, with DUI, had no reason to check Anderson before he climbed into an ambulance and rode with his injured daughter to NorthShore Highland Park Hospital for treatment.
“The stop focused on the driver who was arrested on charges of DUI,” Bond said. “There was no law enforcement purpose to make inquiries on passengers. Police must have a law enforcement purpose to inquire about an individual's criminal history.”
Records show Anderson was on parole from Shawnee Correctional Center after serving a five-year sentence for aggravated battery and escape from a penal institution in November 2010, said Tom Shaer, the director of communications for the Illinois Department of Corrections. As required by law, Anderson was released in March, 2013, due to good behavior, Shaer said. Anderson returned to prison in February, 2014, after he was convicted of cocaine possession in December, 2013.
He was released on parole in May, Shaer said, and his parole was expected to end Feb. 28.
In addition to the cocaine and aggravated battery convictions, court records show Anderson was convicted of resisting a correctional peace officer in 2009. That resulted in him serving 180 days in Lake County periodic imprisonment, court records show.
Highland Park police were called to the hospital two hours after the crash when Anderson reportedly became “aggressive” with hospital employees and he pulled out a concealed handgun. He was shot several times and killed by police after refusing to drop the weapon, authorities said.
No one else was hurt in the shooting, said George Filenko, chief of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force. Filenko said emergency room workers were unsuccessful in saving Anderson's life.
Citing the task force's investigation, Filenko would not comment Thursday about Anderson's motive, where the weapon came from, how many shots police fired or where the fatal bullet hit Anderson. Highland Park Police officials also declined to comment about the shooting.
Ralph Peterson Jr., who is acting as a spokesman for Anderson's family, said they are being told little about what happened.
“They (police) are keeping everything hush-hush,” Peterson said. “I don't know any criminal history or anything like that. My only gripe has been that police haven't said anything to the family. I think the family is owed that much.”