CHICAGO — A Cook County Sheriff’s Police Officer has been relieved of his police powers after prosecutors charged him with a West Loop hit-and-run that left a woman badly injured.
David Salmon, who was off-duty at the time of the incident, will handle administrative duties due to the charges, said a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office.
The crash occurred around 5:45 p.m. on August 3 at the corner of Halsted and Madison. It left the 44-year-old victim with several broken bones, including a fractured ankle and a shattered shoulder blade, both of which require surgery, a Chicago police report said.
Witnesses told police the woman was jogging east on the shoulder or bike lane and was making a turn onto southbound Halsted when an SUV struck her from behind, a CPD crash report said.
A witness told police the woman “flew in the air and hit the floor.” She was also run over by the SUV’s rear tires, according to the report.
The witness and a second person followed the SUV and took pictures of its license plate and, critically, its driver as he fled the scene, according to the crash report.
Burbank police officers arrested Salmon on August 10 after his car, flagged as a wanted vehicle, was spotted by a license plate reader, a CPD report stated. The Burbank officers impounded Salmon’s Toyota RAV4 and notified investigators at CPD’s Major Accident Investigations Unit.
They allegedly found scratches on the car’s paint and paint transfer, consistent with witness statements. Salmon, 51, was also identified in two photo line-ups, according to CPD’s report.
Prosecutors charged Salmon with failure to report an accident involving injury and leaving the scene of an accident involving injury.
Judge Shauna Boliker released him to await trial.
The sheriff’s office spokesperson said their office is cooperating with the investigation. He said the office has also launched its own internal investigation, “which may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination.”
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