Road Rage In Crest Hill As Man With 'Bulging Eyes' Stabs Victim's Hand, Plunges Knife In Passenger Seat: Cops

CREST HILL, IL — A 42-year-old Crest Hill man, Omar McCaskill, has been captured and booked into the Will County Jail in connection with last month's violent road rage incident that was filmed by multiple people at a Crest Hill business along North Broadway Street/Route 53.

Will County Judge Art Smigielski issued the arrest warrant on May 27, and McCaskill was finally captured on Wednesday morning by the Will County Sheriff's office. The charges include vehicular invasion, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, two crimes of aggravated, unlawful use of a weapon and two counts of aggravated assault. On Thursday, the Will County State's Attorney's Office filed a petition to deny pretrial release for McCaskill under the SAFE-T Act.

According to the filing, on the afternoon of May 1, a Crest Hill motorist was on Broadway Street/Route 53 near the Ninth Street Bridge for Lockport when a blue Dodge Dart cut him off, forcing him to swerve into oncoming traffic to avoid a crash. He honked at the driver — later determined to be McCaskill — and the driver locked up his brakes, causing the motorist to stop quickly. The man then drove up next to McCaskill's Dodge Dart to express his displeasure at the driver, prosecutors noted.

That's when prosecutors say McCaskill threw a water bottle at the man's silver F-150 pickup; the man then backed off into traffic and intentionally fell a few vehicles back as they drove toward Joliet along Broadway/Route 53. Finally, near the stoplight at Broadway and Theodore, McCaskill caught the victim off-guard, exiting his own car, and approaching the pickup truck driver's open passenger door window.

"Defendant swung his right hand at (the man) and (he) was able to grab defendant's elbow and push it toward the seat," prosecutors revealed. "Defendant had a 7-8-inch knife with a brown wood handle. At first (the victim) did not see it, but (he) saw it after the knife was lodged in the headrest of his passenger seat."

The victim's index finger was sliced and cut by the knife during McCaskill's actions, prosecutors outlined.

Eventually, the victim exited his truck, retreating to the rear while McCaskill retrieved his knife and returned to his Dodge Dart, traveling westbound on Theodore as the victim followed him from a distance.

By around 7:45 p.m., the road rage victim went to the Alexian Brothers medical facility in Elk Grove Village, where he received multiple sutures and a prescription for the cut to his right index finger, which was injured by the knife. Crest Hill police viewed the victim's injuries as well as "a large slice in the passenger headrest of (his) Ford F-150," prosecutors pointed out.

Crest Hill police obtained the FLOCK license plate reader camera footage showing McCaskill's blue Dodge Dart on Broadway Street north of Renwick Road around 3:30 p.m. on May 1 "in both lanes of traffic, and the next vehicle image appears to be (the victim's) Ford F-150 in the left lane."

The victim described his assailant as a Black man with short hair or a black du-rag "and bulging eyes," standing about 5-foot-10, and "he appeared to be alone in the Dart." The victim furnished Crest Hill police with the license plates of the offender, which returned back to McCaskill, prosecutors noted.

In addition, two people at the Autoland Outlet business at 1601 Broadway Street saw the road rage incident and recorded it with their cell phones. In one video, "defendant had a large knife in his right hand and yelled, 'I will kill you' multiple times," prosecutors indicated. That eyewitness told the Crest Hill police how McCaskill appeared to approach the Ford truck and step on the running board and lean into the truck.

"He did not see the knife and thought it was a road rage incident. He saw (the victim) exit his truck to get away from the defendant," prosecutors pointed out.

According to the petition to deny pretrial release, Crest Hill police later approached McCaskill multiple times to get his version of events.

"Defendant said he never approached the truck nor got within five yards of the male. Defendant said he never went by the truck's window but went by the hood of the truck ... defendant denied striking the male. Defendant said the male never touched him. At first, defendant denied brandishing the knife. Officer asked if there would be video of defendant holding the knife and defendant admitted having the knife in his hand but that was only by his vehicle, he denied approaching the truck with the knife," court documents reflect.

Prosecutors ended their filing by explaining, "defendant was alone in his vehicle and had never seen this male prior to this."

Will County Jail records indicate that McCaskill resides in the 1100 block of Crest Hill's Elizabeth Court.