Bickering at the Collinsville Township trustees’ recent board meeting resulted in one trustee filing a report with police, alleging he was threatened by a member of the audience.
Board member Derrick Keith Cox made the report to police, saying he was threatened by an audience member during the board's meeting on Jan. 22. The audience member is listed in the police report as James E. Stack Jr.
Stack, the former head of a planning unit at the Illinois Department of Transportation’s regional headquarters in Collinsville and a former chairman of the Madison County Democratic Party, could not be reached for comment. Cox also could not be reached for comment.
A Collinsville police officer who handled Cox’s complaint wrote in the police report that he reviewed a video recording of the meeting. The officer wrote that an audience member, identified as Stack, stood up and walked out of the meeting. Cox said to Stack, “Good, don’t come back,” according to the report.
Stack was then out of the camera’s view, but a male voice was heard on the recording, saying, “I’ll get you later.” Cox told police that it was Stack who made the statement.
The officer also wrote that a female could then be heard saying the statement was a threat. According to the report, a male voice, off-camera, was then heard saying, “Shut up, lady.”
The officer’s report states that the matter has been turned over to the Collinsville Police Department’s detective division for review. Chief Steve Evans said Thursday that the matter was still being investigated.
The officer wrote in the report that he interviewed another township trustee, Daniel Hopkins – who is a retired Collinsville police officer – about what happened.
“He did not perceive the comments made by Stack as a threat as he believed there was no criminal intent, and it was more of a matter of heated discussion, which sometimes occurs at meetings,” the officer wrote.
The video recording shows that Cox and Hopkins had at least one disagreement during the meeting. The discussions during the meeting suggest that Cox has ruffled the feathers of fellow board members by suggesting that the township should spend less and give a refund to taxpayers.