2 min read

Woman charged for allegedly hitting Chicago officer with car

Whitley Temple, 34, of the West Garfield Park neighborhood faces several felony counts, including aggravated battery of a peace officer and attempted murder. She was due for an initial court appearance Wednesday.
Woman charged for allegedly hitting Chicago officer with car
Still photo taken from witness video of Monday's incident in which Whitley Temple, 34, of Chicago jumped into a police SUV and driving away with the officer's vehicle as he attempted to stop her.

CHICAGO (AP) — A 34-year-old woman faces aggravated battery and other charges alleging that she jumped naked into a Chicago officer's squad car, struck him with it and drove away, police said Wednesday.

Whitley Temple of Chicago was arrested Monday after police said she crashed the officer’s police SUV, climbed from a window and ran into oncoming traffic. She was apprehended following a brief foot chase.

Chicago police said the officer was responding Monday morning to reported gunshots when a dispatcher broadcast that a woman was “naked, intoxicated and threatening to hit people” at an intersection, according to an arrest report.

The officer found Temple laying naked on the ground, left his marked SUV to check on her and called an ambulance before Temple got up, walked toward the officer and jumped into the SUV.

A video of the incident obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times shows Temple driving off with the door ajar while the officer, apparently bleeding from the head, struggles on the ground.[1]

A second video found on social media shows the officer was dangerously close to being crushed between two vehicles in the incident:

The officer, who suffered injuries to his head and left leg, was released later Monday from a hospital.

Temple faces several felony counts, including aggravated battery of a peace officer and attempted murder, police said. She was due for an initial court appearance Wednesday.

It was not immediately clear if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.


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Notes & References


  1. Schuba, Tom. “Naked Woman Charged with Attempted Murder after Stealing Squad Car and Running over CPD Officer in West Garfield Park.” Times. Chicago Sun-Times, June 15, 2022. https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/6/15/23168278/naked-woman-charged-after-stealing-squad-car-and-running-over-cpd-officer-in-west-garfield-park. ↩︎