Tinted Windows, A Joliet Police Stop, Now Detention Under SAFE-T-Act: Complaint

JOLIET, IL — A 26-year-old Joliet man who Joliet police say was driving around the east-side with illegally tinted windows will remain in the Will County Jail indefinitely under the SAFE-T-Act. Former Illinois Department of Corrections inmate Kehwon Watts had a loaded gun and lots of illegal drugs inside his Chevy Blazer, court documents from last week's traffic stop allege.

Watts comes from the 400 block of East Washington Street, and he's being detained on two charges of armed violence, possessing a gun by a repeat felony offender, unlawful delivery of controlled substances, unlawful possession of controlled substances, felon in possession of a weapon, unlawful possession of weapons by a felon on parole and resisting arrest.

The petition to deny pretrial release went before Will County Judge Brian Barrett, who agreed that Watts needs to stay in the Will County Jail for the foreseeable future.

Watts was just paroled from IDOC on May 25 after receiving a four-year prison sentence out of Will County for a September 2021 aggravated discharge of a gun crime.

Then, last Wednesday, around 6:30 p.m., the two Joliet officers saw the black Chevy Blazer with tinted windows on North Chicago Street near Ohio Street so they pulled it over in the 500 block of North Chicago. After the traffic stop, one of the officers used a tint reader to determine that Watts' front driver's side window was at 3 percent and that is not legal in Illinois, court records show.

Joliet police noted that the smell of marijuana was apparent inside Watts' vehicle. Watts confirmed he was on parole or probation and when he was asked to step out of his vehicle, he tried to run away, but Officer Killian took him down to the ground, prosecutors said. It took a while, but the officers managed to get Watts into handcuffs following his struggle, according to court documents.

A loaded Glock 32 .357-caliber handgun was in his waistband and Watts had five live rounds of ammunition in his gun, prosecutors said. Inside his jacket, Watts had three bags of cocaine that weighed 51.52 grams, one bag with three blue pills of oxycodone and one bag with five orange pills that were Dextroamphetamine, the court documents allege.

Down at the police station, another officer retrieved marijuana from Watts that weighed 9.29 grams. Watts was hiding the marijuana in his groin/waist area, prosecutors informed Judge Barrett.

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