Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (Presley Ann/Getty Images for EMILY’S List.)
A 34-year-old man in Illinois has been arrested for allegedly assaulting Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx over the weekend, allegedly throwing a brown liquid in her face before nearly striking her with his car. William D. Swetz was taken into custody on Saturday and charged with one count of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and one count of aggravated battery in a public place.
According to court documents obtained by Chicago Fox affiliate WFLD, the alleged incident took place outside of a residence in the 800 block of Sterling Avenue, near her home in Flossmoor, Illinois.
Swetz is accused of driving by Foxx in a GMC truck and yelling an expletive at the prosecutor. Foxx responded by giving a “hand gesture” in Swetz’s direction, The National Desk reported. Foxx was reportedly standing on the parkway of the road at the time.
Swetz is then accused of reversing his vehicle across the street and intentionally “accelerated towards the victim,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times. Police reportedly said Foxx was “forced to step off of the road onto the parkway grass due to her fear of being struck.”
Per the Sun-Times, after nearly hitting Foxx with his truck, Swetz pulled up next to her and “tossed a brown liquid substance from a drink cup onto the face of the victim.” He then drove away.
The New York Sun reported that Swetz appeared before a judge where his attorney said that Swetz did not know who Foxx was when he threw the drink at her, clarifying that the beverage was a 7-11 Big Gulp.
Swetz was taken into custody one day after the alleged incident and has already been released. A judge reportedly ordered Swetz to have no contact with Foxx as a condition of his release. He is scheduled to appear in court again on Tuesday.
Foxx, who has already declared that she does not intend to seek reelection, in 2022 was investigated after her husband told police that the prosecutor became “aggressive” and slapped him over “something that was posted on Facebook.” She denied the allegations and no charges were filed.
She was also heavily criticized for how she handled the case of Jussie Smollett, the former “Empire” actor who lied about being the victim of a racist and homophobic attack. A special prosecutor produced a 68-page report stating that Foxx and others in her office made multiple false statements when they began prosecuting the actor on 16 criminal counts only to abruptly drop those charges in exchange for community service.
A special prosecutor was ultimately appointed to the case and Smollet was convicted of disorderly conduct charges and sentenced to two years of probation.
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