By RUMMANA HUSSAIN
Chicago Sun-Times
A Cook County Juvenile Detention Center employee was placed on electronic monitoring Wednesday for allegedly causing a deadly accident that claimed the life of off-duty Chicago Police officer Tito M. Rodriguez over the summer.
Dennis Anderson | Chicago Police
Dennis Anderson, 51, was initially cited for operating an uninsured motor vehicle, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and improper lane usage for the July 20 crash on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
But after additional investigation revealed that Rodriguez was killed when Anderson tried to make an illegal exit at 71st, he was charged with reckless homicide, Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Mack said.
Anderson was traveling southbound in the express lanes in his red Pontiac G5 with his sons, 13 and 16, when he swerved into Rodriguez’s lane that afternoon, Mack said.
Rodriguez, 28, was on his motorcycle in the local lanes with friends and co-workers riding behind him.
The off-duty cop tried to hit his brakes to avoid the collision after Anderson crossed a solid line and median separating the local and express lanes. But the motorcycle hit Anderson’s car, causing Rodriguez to be thrown into the air before he landed on the pavement, Mack said.
Illinois State Police who arrived on the scene asked Anderson to submit to blood and urine testing, but he allegedly refused.
An autopsy performed on Rodriguez indicated he died of multiple injuries, including skull, rib and extremity fractures, Mack said.
Anderson’s license was suspended as a result of the accident.
He previously received supervision for failing to stop at a stop sign in Blue Island in 2013, and was convicted of speeding in Alexander County, Ill., just weeks before Rodriguez’s death.
Anderson’s attorney Robert Willis said his client, “a married father of six,” is a janitorial supervisor in the linen department at the juvenile detention center.
Anderson, of the 8500 block of Michigan Avenue, is also chairman of a Local School Council and basketball coach at Beasley Elementary and Morgan Park High schools.
Rodriguez had been with CPD since May 2013.