Fired Will County sheriff’s deputy’s crash case heads to final pretrial hearing

A final pretrial hearing has been set for a fired Will County sheriff’s deputy who was charged again in connection with a major 2021 crash in Joliet, only this time on a misdemeanor charge instead of a felony charge.

Both parties in the case against Andrew Schwartz, 39, of Joliet, will meet April 25 for a final pretrial hearing. Schwartz is charged with the misdemeanor offense of reckless driving in connection with an April 4, 2021, crash in Joliet.

The charge accuses Schwartz of driving his Dodge Ram truck in “willful and wanton disregard” for the safety of other people and property while chasing after George Kou-Kou, 22, of Plainfield. Schwartz was not on duty as a deputy at the time.

The misdemeanor charge was filed by Special Prosecutor Bill Elward on Sept. 30, 2022, after Judge Dave Carlson dismissed Elward’s previous felony charge against Schwartz over the same incident May 23, 2022.

Carlson had granted the dismissal of the felony charge at the request of Schwartz’s attorney, Jeff Tomczak, whose law firm continues to represent Schwartz in the new misdemeanor case.

Kou-Kou himself still faces a felony charge of aggravated reckless driving in connection with the same crash. Kou-Kou’s case is slated for either a plea hearing or trial setting April 3.

The April 4, 2021, crash also led to a lawsuit against Schwartz, Kou-Kou, Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley and Will County government.

The lawsuit was filed by Philip Juarez, who along with his wife and two children were the occupants of the vehicle struck by Kou-Kou. The lawsuit case still is ongoing.

An internal investigation of Schwartz’s actions in the lead-up to the crash by Will County Lt. Dan Troike led him to conclude that even if Schwartz was on duty at the time of the incident, his actions were not justified under the sheriff’s office pursuit policy.

The investigation led Kelley to fire Schwartz.

According to Troike’s report, Vern Sjogreen, a passenger in Kou-Kou’s vehicle, claimed that Schwartz “produced his middle finger” to Kou-Kou, which caused him “to become upset,” Troike said.

Sjogreen said Kou-Kou followed Schwartz’s vehicle and tossed a McDonald’s cup full of soda at his vehicle, prompting Schwartz to put his vehicle in reverse and leading to him hitting Kou-Kou’s vehicle, Troike said.

Schwartz claimed that a passenger in Kou-Kou’s vehicle was “manipulating his hand/fingers into a gun after reaching under the seat, implying that he had/would use a gun.”

Schwartz said that moments before Kou-Kou’s vehicle struck his vehicle, a passenger “threw an unknown liquid into the open back window of my truck.”

That caused the “unknown liquid to explode inside my vehicle, spraying all over me and the interior of my truck,” Schwartz said.

Troike reviewed video evidence that captured the vehicles at Larkin Avenue and West Jefferson Street in Joliet. The chase went all the way to South Chicago Street and then eventually to Plainfield Road in Joliet.

A video from a business on that road showed Kou-Kou’s vehicle “come into view traveling westbound, crossing the center line into oncoming traffic and subsequently crashing head-on into another vehicle,” according to the report.