I have a new-found respect for comptrollers. I just figured they were glorified accountants, but now I know they can be crime fighters single-handily trying to clean up a dirty city.
Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza was out for a bike ride with her husband and 4-year-old on July 30 when she witnessed a black Ford F-250 XLT Super Duty barrel through a red light, the Chicago Tribune reports.
A short time later and a few blocks away, that same black truck and its driver were the cause of a multi-car crash. This is when Mendoza jumped into action. She stopped and helped drivers block Boyle’s escape route while filming the entire chaotic scene.
Mendoza didn’t know it at the time, but she was facing down a former Chicago City Hall employee and two-time felon named John “Quarters” Boyle. How did he get that colorful nickname, I hear you ask? Because he made off with a million quarters from the Illinois Tollway.
But this was Mayor Daley’s Chicago, so he still managed to get a job, where he was able to engage in even more corruption during the Hired Truck scandal. You might say, transportation based crimes are his thing.
Boyle tried to pull away from the scene, nearly running over one of the car accident victims in the process. Flee though he might, Johnny Quarters was unable to escape the tenacity of Comptroller Mendoza. She followed him to a near by convenience store, where she announced what a scumbag he is to everyone within shouting distance. Boyle seemed disoriented in the video and denied any wrongdoing while claiming to be with the police.
“I’ve got you on video,” Mendoza said. “Say cheese!”
Boyle then fled the scene and Mendoza turned her footage over to police. A few days later, Boyle turned himself into police. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, failure to report a crash and operating an uninsured vehicle.