Parole Agent Arrested in Violent Road Rage Incident: Police

Riverside, IL - Police arrested an Illinois Department of Corrections senior parole agent Jan. 22 after he voluntarily surrendered to police and acknowledged he hit another man during a road rage incident.

Michael J. Dudzik, 49 of the 2300 block of Westover in North Riverside, was charged with aggravated battery involving great bodily harm, a Class 3 felony, according to Riverside police.

Police were called to Woodside Road and 31st Street around 8:11 p.m. Jan. 20 for reports of a road rage street disturbance and a battery. People calling 911 said drivers were speeding through traffic and talking to each other.

Officers weren’t immediately able to find the drivers or the cars involved, but the North Riverside Police Department called Riverside police to say an injured Forest Park man was in the police lobby. The man said he’d been attacked during a traffic fight in Riverside, police reported.

The first Riverside officer to reach the station found the man was bleeding heavily, and he was being treated by North Riverside paramedics. He refused to be taken to a hospital.

Police discovered the road rage incident started on Interstate 55 at the First Avenue exit in McCook. The Forest Park man said he was cut off and tailgated by another driver, later discovered to be Dudzik, police report. The two erratic drivers continued through traffic to 31st and First Avenue in Riverside, where they stopped at a red light.

Police report Dudzik got out of his car, and the Forest Park man rolled down his window. They spoke, and police say Dudzik then punched the Forest Park man in the face, causing serious injuries including a broken nose, cuts on his cheek and fractures on his forehead.

“In this case, the victim stated that he was so severely injured that he could not call 911 because he was bleeding so heavily that it covered his screen on his cell phone,” said Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel in a statement.

The Forest Park man had taken a photo of Dudzik’s license plate, which police traced to a leasing company in Berwyn and then to Dudzik in North Riverside.

Police asked Dudzik to voluntarily surrender himself for further investigation, and on Jan. 22, Dudzik surrendered.

Dudzik is currently employed as an Illinois Department of Corrections senior parole agent, police reported. Riverside Police reviewed the case before charges were filed with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Photo courtesy of Riverside police.