More than two years after a deadly hit-and-run, Illinois State Police are still withholding records related to a pursuit that preceded the crash. Bennett Haeberle reports.
More than two years after a deadly hit-and-run, Illinois State Police are still withholding records related to a pursuit that preceded the crash, now defying a judge’s order to produce the materials after NBC 5 Investigates sued the agency for violating the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
Selina Taylor and her family were coming home from a Juneteenth celebration in 2021 when their car was hit by a speeding Chevy Malibu that ran the red at Pershing and State Street. The driver fled on foot, leaving the Malibu behind.
Selina and her 3-month-old son Sebastian Junior were killed. Her partner Sebastian Taylor and their then-12-year-old son David were severely injured.
“I’m just tired. Stressed out. Mad, angry. And it feel like ain’t nobody doing nothing about it,” said Selina’s mother Sherry Taylor.
“Somebody needs to pay for this,” she continued, through tears. “I can’t take it.”
Sebastian Taylor said for months, police wouldn’t answer his questions – leaving him in the dark about what happened that night.
Until NBC 5 Investigates obtained the Illinois State Police’s 500-page report on the agency’s internal investigation into the incident. It revealed multiple troopers pursued the Malibu, hitting speeds of more than 100 miles per hour, before calling it off shortly before the crash.
ISP cleared their two troopers who started the pursuit of any wrongdoing – in fact, they determined it was no pursuit at all, because they never activated their lights and sirens. But something in the report stood out.
A nearby Illinois Department of Transportation employee reported seeing the Malibu, with an ISP SUV following closely behind. Records show a state police captain was behind the wheel, and then first on the scene, 41 seconds after the crash.
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Upon learning what the IDOT employee witnessed, ISP investigators suspended a planned interview with the captain, his version of events nowhere to be found in the 500-page report. NBC 5 Investigates then obtained the captain’s personnel file, and found he submitted for retirement 12 days after the crash. A check with ISP’s internal investigation office showed “no open or pending cases” that would prevent him from retiring in good standing.
In a statement, an ISP spokeswoman said the captain would have been interviewed if he had not retired. But because the agency had “definitive evidence” that neither he “nor any other officer was pursuing the offender’s vehicle immediately prior to the crash, there was no reason to interview him after his retirement,” the statement reads.
It’s not clear why the captain retired - he did not respond to our request for comment.
Selina Taylor’s sister Keyona Armstrong said her family has still never learned anything about that night from police – only from NBC 5.
“How the news people, they willing to help us and you guys are supposed to be the ones who help us, because y’all the police and y’all didn’t deliver at all – nothing,” Armstrong asked.
Upon obtaining the internal report, NBC 5 Investigates filed another request for dash cam videos from ISP’s investigation. ISP asked for – and NBC 5 Investigates sent – a money order to get the records.
That was nearly two years ago and ISP has, to this day, sent nothing in return. NBC 5 sued for the records, arguing ISP violated the Freedom of Information Act. A judge agreed and ordered the agency to turn over the videos more than a month ago. They still haven’t. And by continuing to withhold them, they’re now not only ignoring state law – they’re defying a judge’s order.
“Police say they’re supposed to serve and protect but it just feels like they disobeyed their own laws and neglected to take accountability for their own actions,” Armstrong said.
Sebastian Taylor has filed a claim against ISP in the state’s Court of Claims. That case is still pending.
But Selina Taylor’s family says they still feel trapped in that night – even as time marches on.
“She was almost home. Four blocks away, but y’all chasing the car and now she’s gone and that is not right,” Sherry Taylor said.
“Even though it’s going on three years, it do just feel like yesterday,” Armstrong said. “It just feels like time stopped then.”
