"Tito "Mannie" Rodriguez Jr. was a 28-year-old Chicago Police Officer appointed to the department in 2012. He was a hardworking, dedicated officer whose life was callously and suddenly taken when Dennis Anderson recklessly crossed three lanes of traffic on I-94 and struck Officer Rodriguez, who was driving his motorcycle and about to begin his tour of duty in the 006th District on July 20, 2014.
Anderson was charged with felony reckless homicide. The case has been pending before Judge Walsh in the Cook County Criminal Court House at 26th & California for more than four years.
Cook County State's Attorney Kimberly Foxx has determined that neither jail time nor a felony conviction is appropriate, and she has offered to reduce the case to a misdemeanor reckless driving in exchange for a plea of guilty.
Mannie's family, friends, the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 and fellow officers believe that such a disposition is a gross miscarriage of justice and deprecates the seriousness of Dennis Anderson's reckless act. If you believe that this injustice should be stopped, please sign this petition in support of opposition to the State's Attorney's actions and to ask Judge Walsh not to abide by the the prosecutor's offer."
