UPDATE: Champaign County Judge John Kennedy today declined to reduce the bond of Kevin L. Casey, 53, of Janesville, Wis., after hearing Casey cares for two elderly parents and has pets dependent on his care, and set Casey’s next court appearance for Aug. 7.
At Casey’s arraignment Monday afternoon, he asked for and was granted a court-appointed attorney to represent him on the four charges: aggravated battery, aggravated battery to a child and two counts of criminal damage to property.
Our original story:
Police in Illinois last week arrested a Wisconsin truck driver they say used a slingshot and metal ball bearings to shoot out windows in vehicles he passed while driving in I-74.
Kevin L. Casey (Illinois State Police photo)On Friday, June 1, Illinois State Police arrested Kevin L. Casey, 53, of Janesville, Wisconsin, for aggravated battery to a child, aggravated battery on a public way, and criminal damage to property. The arrest stems from numerous reports of damage to vehicles — mostly minivans — that occurred on I-74 in Champaign and Vermilion counties.
Casey was scheduled to be arraigned today.
In a press conference today, police say they received 45 reports of damage to vehicles, and believe similar incidents have also occurred in several other states. Police did not comment on a motive behind the incident, and said the investigation is ongoing.
The incidents became the focus of social media attention after a child was injured. A Monticello woman posted to Facebook that her 3-year-old son was cut by flying glass May 2 when a window in their minivan shattered while on I-74.
Casey, who is an owner-operator, was arrested after police investigators witnessed him in the act of using a slingshot to damage the window on the driver’s side door of a minivan headed east on I-74. They were following Casey’s truck and were prepared to serve him with a felony warrant at the time of the incident.
When searching his truck police found a slingshot, several different sizes of metal ball bearings and items used to make slingshots.
Police earlier reviewed video footage to identify Casey’s truck.
Judge Roger Webber set Casey’s bond at $2 million. Published reports say the judge based the high bond on Casey being convicted in Wisconsin for sexual assault of a child in 1998 and domestic battery in 1994.
