Crest Hill man shot to death after slashing cop’s artery: police

A Crest Hill man was shot to death after he slashed a police officer’s femoral artery Monday night, police said.

The officer was transported to AMITA Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, according to a statement released Monday night by Crest Hill Police Chief Ed Clark.

“The officer underwent surgery, for the serious injuries that he sustained,” according to a statement released early Tuesday morning by the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force.

“As of this writing, the officer that was stabbed is out of surgery and recovering in the Intensive Care Unit,” the statement said. “The officer’s condition is listed as serious but stable condition.”

Prior to the shooting and stabbing, Crest Hill officer responded to a domestic battery complaint at an apartment on Pioneer Road near Bicentennial Drive shortly before 7 p.m. Monday, the major crimes task force statement said.

“Dispatch advised responding officers that a domestic battery occurred between a husband and wife residing in an apartment,” the statement said. “The complainant advised dispatch that her husband had punched her in the face, and there were several children present. It is believed that the complainant remained on the 911 line with the dispatch center throughout most of this encounter.”

Dispatch advised officers that arguing and crying could be heard, and someone was “making comments about ‘suicide by police,’” the task force said. “One of the calls received by the dispatch center indicated that the male half of this disturbance was armed with a knife.”

The husband — 30-year-old Matthew Parks — also said “He was going to kill himself, and to go ahead and send the police in,” according to the task force statement, and when officers arrived, a “confrontation ensued between” Parks and the officers.

Parks then stabbed an officer in the leg, the task force said.

A police sergeant shot Parks several times “in defense of the injured officer’s life,” according to the task force statement.

“Responding officers performed life saving measures on Parks, but he succumbed to his injuries on scene,” the statement said.