Chicago man charged with threatening Lombard cop

A Chicago man was charged Thursday with threatening a Lombard police officer.

Bond was set at $150,000 for Daryl Meeks, 41, of the 5400 block of W. Haddon Avenue, who was charged with two counts of threatening a public official, misdemeanor DUI and other traffic offenses, according to a DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office news release.

On January 13, at approximately 1:54 a.m., a patrol officer with the Lombard Police Department observed a vehicle allegedly driving erratically. The vehicle, allegedly driven by Meeks, eventually made an abrupt stop in the roadway at which time the officer conducted a traffic stop. While speaking with Meeks, the officer allegedly noticed an odor of alcohol and burnt cannabis in the vehicle. After failing field sobriety tests, Meeks was placed under arrest, the release stated.

Once back at the police station, Meeks allegedly asked how long the officer who arrested him had been on the police force. When informed that the officer was on the force for six years, Meeks made a gun shape with his hands and said that “he (the officer) won’t make it to 7 years.” Meeks also allegedly stated directly to the officer “I hope your names on the police report, I’m going to (expletive) you up on my kids. Thank God I didn’t have my gun on me tonight I would have shot the (expletive) out you. If I would have had my gun, I woulda shot the (expletive) out you when you asked me to step out the vehicle.”

“My office takes any threat or even the perception of a threat against a public employee or elected official extremely seriously,” DuPage Couny State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the release. “The allegation that Mr. Meeks threatened a law enforcement officer will not be tolerated and will be met with the full force of the law.”

“I commend the officer involved in this case for his fine work in observing an allegedly impaired driver and getting that driver off the streets before he injured himself or someone else,” Lombard Chief of Police Roy Newton said in the release.”Unfortunately, our officers are often times confronted with the type of threatening behavior alleged in this case.”

Meek’s next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 7 for arraignment.