Eight days after a collision on West Main Street in Belleville injured two city police officers, Illinois State Police charged attorney Bruce N. Cook, 76, with failure to yield to an authorized emergency vehicle.
The accident occurred May 19 at West Main and 62nd Street at 7:41 p.m., on dry pavement, in daylight.
According to a May 20 article about the accident in the Belleville News Democrat, State Police and Belleville Police declined to release the name of driver of the Lexus.
Several messages left this week with State Police District 11 in Collinsville seeking a traffic incident report have not been returned.
Cook’s traffic ticket was located during a records search at the St. Clair County Circuit Clerk’s office. It shows he drove a white 2015 Lexus, that police released him on a promise to comply with terms of the ticket, and that Cook refused his signature.
A July 22 court date has been set, but the ticket states that Cook’s appearance would not be required.
Neither State Police nor Belleville Police have identified the officers involved in the accident.
Belleville Police Capt. John Moody refused to comment on June 9, except to say that the officers are alive.
A spokesperson for Illinois State Police in Springfield said that it’s customary for its department to investigate officer-involved traffic accidents.
Cook’s son, former St. Clair County circuit judge Michael Cook recently completed a sentence in federal prison on a misdemeanor charge of possessing heroin and using it while possessing firearms.
Then U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton negotiated a guilty plea agreement with Michael Cook at 18 months, but Central Illinois District Judge Joe McDade rejected the agreement due to the harm Cook had caused to public faith in the judiciary. McDade sentenced him to two years.