The Top Cop: Driver accused of DUI tracks missing laptop to Illinois State trooper's house

CHICAGO (WLS) -- This is the second part to a two-part series. To read part one, click here.

A restaurant executive arrested by an Illinois State Police trooper on DUI charges told the ABC 7 I-Team when he discovered his MacBook was missing from his car, he tracked it to the house of the trooper who arrested him.

What followed was captured in a 911 call recording, a cell phone video, and an internal investigation by the Illinois State Police, all obtained by the I-Team.

For three years, ISP Trooper Kevin Bradley was named by a nonprofit as the state's "Top Cop": A moniker given to the member of law enforcement who has made the most DUI arrests statewide.

Over that time, hundreds of drivers were arrested by Bradley for DUI in Cook and DuPage Counties.

But as the I-Team previously reported, public defenders and civil rights attorneys have accused Bradley of "fabricating evidence" and violating drivers' civil rights, arguing many of those criminal cases were later dismissed prior to adjudication, or they resulted in drivers receiving not guilty verdicts.

Local restaurant executive Sherard Holland is one of those drivers.

"It was just a regular, normal day," Holland explained. "Doing a favor for a friend of mine, traveling to pick them up and we were going home when I unfortunately made contact with that trooper."

As the sun rose in the early morning hours of June 2, 2024, Holland says he was confused when he saw the police lights in his rearview mirror.

The son of a Chicago police officer, Holland says he was the designated driver for a co-worker after working overnight when he was pulled over by Trooper Bradley.

The I-Team obtained a copy of the trooper's traffic stop report and dashboard camera footage from that morning.

"I pulled you over because you swerved," Bradley can be heard saying to Holland at his driver's side window.

After speaking with Holland, Trooper Bradley wrote in his report he "could smell the odor of an alcoholic beverage emitting from the vehicle."

Bradley then asked Holland to "relocate" by driving down the road to a gas station in Worth Township, passing through several intersections and traffic lights.

At the gas station, Bradley accused Holland of driving under the influence. When asked if he would submit to field sobriety tests, Holland calmly refused.

"No, thank you," Holland told Bradley in the footage.

Bradley took Holland into custody for felony DUI and in the dashboard camera footage, while Holland was in the state trooper's vehicle, Bradley can be seen searching through Holland's vehicle before his car was towed.

Missing MacBook

Later that day, when Holland needed his MacBook, he said he noticed it wasn't listed on his inventory slip, so he assumed it must be with his car at the tow yard.

"I decided to ping my MacBook," Holland told the I-Team, "and it pinged to an address."

Using Apple's "Find My" feature, Holland says his MacBook was not pinging at the tow yard with his car, rather it was showing up at a Tinley Park home.

"I was fearful of going to retrieve my item," Holland explained. "And I just had to motivate myself and say, 'Hey, I'm going to go get it.'"

Holland says he found his courage, and drove over to the address, where after knocking on the front door, he was eventually met by Trooper Bradley.

"He denied it and began to argue with me," Holland said. "And I decided to call the police."

After filing a Freedom of Information Act request with the Tinley Park Police Department, the I-Team obtained a recording of that 911 call.

In it, Holland can be heard speaking to a dispatcher.

"I have an iMac that was stolen last night," Holland told the dispatcher, referring to his MacBook.

"And what did they say when you confronted them then?" the dispatcher asked Holland.

Holland told the I-Team while he was on the phone with the dispatcher, Bradley told him to end the call. In the 911 recording, you can hear Holland say, "How else would I have your address? OK, I'll hang up. I'll hang up," and then the call ends.

Holland and his attorney provided the I-Team a cell-phone video clip that picks up shortly after that 911 call ended, recorded by Holland's wife who was waiting in his car outside of the Tinley Park home.

In the video, Trooper Bradley is seen walking out and handing Holland his MacBook. Bradley then opens his garage door to show Holland his State Police vehicle parked inside, telling Holland the laptop was accidentally left in his state vehicle.

"It was a very traumatic interaction with him," Holland told the I-Team.

The Tinley Park Police Department dispatcher eventually called Holland back.

"Is everything okay?" the dispatcher can be heard asking. "You're fine?"

"Yeah, he's a police officer and for some reason he took my MacBook home with him," Holland replied.

"Oh, gotcha," the dispatcher said. "You'll probably want to speak to a supervisor over there."

That's what Holland did: He filed a complaint with the Illinois State Police, and the I-Team obtained a copy of the state's internal investigation into the complaint.

According to the findings, investigators determined Trooper Bradley never reported the interaction with Holland over his MacBook to Bradley's supervisors, nor did he make note of it in his reports.

In a transcript of an interview Bradley did with internal investigators as part of the investigation, when Bradley was asked why he took the laptop, he said he was doing Holland a "favor."

"I kept it for his courtesy, like I said with his phone, key and wallet," Bradley told investigators. "It's my mistake. I forgot to give him his stuff back and he tracked it."

The report states investigators determined Bradley had violated State Police policies, and he was suspended for one day.

When the I-Team shared this with Holland, he said, "I feel disheartened by that. I feel let down by, again, people who should be entrusted and should be held accountable for their actions."

"I'm outraged," said Brandon Brown, Holland's attorney. "Outraged as a fellow Cook County resident to think that something like that could happen."

"What if he didn't call 911?" Brown asked, "What if he didn't have the Find My iPhone application?"

After months of court hearings for the DUI charges, a bench trial found Holland "not guilty."

Holland is now suing the state and Trooper Bradley alleging his civil rights were violated.

Bradley did not respond to the I-Team's repeated requests for comment. In court filings, attorneys representing the state and Bradley have argued Holland's lawsuit should be dismissed as the trooper has "sovereign immunity" as a member of law enforcement, and that it was a "lawful" traffic stop.

'How many other people?'

An I-Team analysis of Cook County court records found out of 319 DUI prosecutions stemming from arrests made by Trooper Bradley since 2023, 174 cases were dismissed before adjudication, or the drivers were found not guilty, like in Holland's case.

According to court records, 105 drivers were found guilty, with 96 of those drivers accepting plea deals for lesser charges.

As of last month, 40 cases are still pending.

Brown says there are critical questions that need to be answered about Bradley's arrests.

"How many other people like Sherard, who maybe couldn't afford a lawyer... Maybe they pled guilty or maybe they were found guilty and perhaps their conduct didn't actually match what was alleged," Brown said.

A spokesperson for the Illinois State Police said, "ISP has strong oversight of all officers and addresses any discrepancies or complaints when they are identified."

"It would be irresponsible not to arrest and remove a person off the roads who is suspected of impaired driving," a spokesperson for ISP told the I-Team. "Securing convictions for DUIs in a court of law is a separate process from the role troopers and other law enforcement officers play."

The ISP statement reads, "A trooper makes an arrest when there is probable cause... Ultimately, it is up to the prosecutor to determine whether they can meet the threshold of proof beyond a reasonable doubt."

For drivers like Holland, Brown says arrests for DUI are serious and can have a lasting impact.

"It can have a life changing experience," Brown said. "It is devastating. And if you're innocent, that's something that stays with you."

Court overtime

For every DUI arrest made, state police troopers must appear in court, and in evidence motions filed with the court, attorneys have said this has led to a staggering amount of overtime pay for Trooper Bradley.

State records show in 2024, Bradley nearly tripled his salary, earning nearly $250,000 in one year.

That's more than the salary of the Illinois State Police director.

A spokesperson for ISP told the I-Team Bradley is currently on medical leave after suffering injuries from an accident while he was working.