A suburban woman has been given the maximum sentence for placing a prank 911 call that resulted in a squad car crash that critically injured a Kankakee County Sheriff’s deputy.
Shontay Lumpkins, 31, of St. Anne, of was sentenced to 364 days in jail and ordered to pay a $2500 fine, according to Kankakee County State’s Attorney Jamie Boyd.
Deputy David Stukenbord testified from a wheel chair during the pre-sentencing hearing today. The accident left him a quadriplegic. He’s currently at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago where he’s in therapy three hours a day in hopes he can regain some use of his limbs.
“He said the hardest part about all of this is that he can’t hold his 11-month-old son,” said Boyd.
Boyd said Stukenbord’s family, friends and fellow officers packed the courtroom for today’s sentencing.
Lumpkins placed the false 911 call on November 7, 2009. She gave the 911 operator the address of an old boyfriend and said there were five bodies there and police needed to hurry. She then hung-up.
As Stukenbord and another officer raced to the scene, a tire blew out on the squad car and it flipped several times. The second officer was not seriously injured, but Stukenbord broke 3 vertebrae.
Lumpkins did not testify at her trial but prosecutors told the jury that Lumpkins said to relatives she made the prank call as a “stupid ass joke.”
Prosecutors said police went into maximum response mode due to the nature of the call – a report of multiple victims from a woman who might be in danger too.
“That’s the type of response you would want from your sheriff’s department under those circumstances,” said Boyd.
Boyd said false 911 reports are a misdemeanor but he is pushing for legislation to make any false 911 call a class 4 felony that would carry a 1-3 year sentence.
Any false call that results in injury to a responding officer, fireman or medic, would be a class 3 felony, with a 2-5 year sentence.
There is a fundraiser for Deputy Stukenbord this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Quality Inn in Bradley. It’s $10 at the door for food and a chance to win $500.
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