Ex-Alderman Sharon Dixon Unfit For Gun Trial
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Cook County judge Friday ruled Former Ald. Sharon Dixon (24th) unfit to stand trial on charges alleging she approached Chicago Police officers outside the 10th district with a loaded gun last spring.
Dixon, 50, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon and possessing a firearm without a license for the May 4 incident.
On Friday, Judge Diane Canon ruled Dixon unfit to stand trial and she was remanded to the Illinois Department of Human Services for an evaluation, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton.
Prosecutors said several hours before the officers say they saw her with a weapon, Dixon had been walking in and out of the police station, in the 3300 block of West Ogden.
At one point, Dixon allegedly approached the officers, pointed to a car and asked, "Is this D's car?"
Officers then noticed her holstered gun and her hands on the weapon, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said at the bond hearing following her Dixon's arrest.
Police said Dixon then said, "I've got a gun" and gestured towards her hip where she exposed the handle of the gun in her waistband as she waved the gun's holster in the air.
Dixon was arrested and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital for a psychological evaluation.
This isn't Dixon's first brush with the law.
In 2009, she was arrested and charged with DUI after being pulled over in Rogers Park.
Arrest reports at the time said she yelled at officers to let her through a barricade at the scene of a fatal fire, then circled a squad car on foot before pulling at the vehicle's door handle and demanding the star number from the officers inside.
The DUI charge was eventually dropped. Dixon did, however, plead guilty to obstruction of traffic and paid a $200 fine.
Dixon sued the Chicago Police Department for the arrest in 2011 -- the same year she lost her seat in the City Council to Michael Chandler.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2013. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
