The man accused of throwing a Big Gulp full of root beer on former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx during a road rage altercation near her Flossmoor home was found guilty of one felony and not guilty of another on Monday morning.
Prosecutors charged William Swetz, 35, with aggravated battery in a public place and aggravated assault with a motor vehicle following the June 2024 incident. He took the case to a bench trial last month.
On Monday, Judge Tiana Blakely found Swetz guilty of the battery charge but not guilty of vehicular assault, according to court records. She set a January 8 hearing for post-trial motions.
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office handled the prosecution during Swetz’s two-day bench trial at the Markham courthouse.
Foxx, who was walking along the edge of the roadway on her usual morning walk, told police that Swetz yelled, “Get the f**** off the road, b****!” She responded by flipping him off.
Swetz allegedly drove a short distance, then threw his truck into reverse, zigzagging toward her in the opposite lane and forcing her to jump onto the curb to avoid being hit. When he stopped, the two exchanged more words before Swetz allegedly hurled the contents of his Big Gulp cup in her face.
During opening statements, Assistant Attorney General Suzanne Collins told Blakely that Swetz “used his pickup truck and a full cup of soda pop for exacting revenge on Ms. Foxx.”
But Assistant Public Defender Michael Herzog, an attorney supervisor in the Felony Trial Division, argued for a misdemeanor conviction rather than a felony.
“Judge, we’re here primarily because there are outsized charges,” Herzog argued. “This is about a moment of mutual anger between two adults… a verbal altercation that briefly escalated to an offensive contact, battery of the misdemeanor sort.”
In August, Foxx, who left office in December, updated her LinkedIn profile, laying out themes for her next chapter as a “collaborative trailblazer.” Among her stated goals was a desire to “build systems of accountability that are not punitive, but transformational.”
“What if we became willing — strategically and morally — to absorb some harm in service of a greater good?” she asked.
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