The Top Cop: DUI arrests by decorated Illinois State Police trooper questioned in court

Added: 2026-05-14

[00:00:00]For 3 years, an Illinois State Police trooper has been named the top cop in Illinois, making hundreds of DUI arrests and receiving awards proclaiming him a hero for making streets safer. But tonight, some of those drivers have told the IT team they were sober. And it took them years to clear their name of criminal charges. Now they are calling for justice.

[00:00:20]>> Hey, sir.

[00:00:21]Stay safe.

[00:00:22]>> It's March 8th, 2024, just after 3:00 a.m. in a Thornton Township overnight parking lot. Wisconsin truck driver Ian Renfro says he was passing through the Chicago area when he decided to pull over, turn off his engine, and sleep before heading home.

[00:00:36]>> I woke up to like a hand reaching like reaching over me.

[00:00:40]>> Police, please. Police.

[00:00:41]>> Illinois State Police Trooper Kevin Bradley asked to see Refro's license after noticing his car had a temporary license plate. But after Refro shared his license and mentioned he had had a drink earlier that night, the trooper said Refro smelt of alcohol. In his report, the trooper notes he asked if he could perform field sobriety tests, but Renfro declined.

[00:01:01]>> You know, I got to go off of what I'm seeing, right? Well, your physical appearance, that's what I'm going off of, right? I was pretty much at a restaurant.

[00:01:09]>> And I'm like, I'm not doing any test.

[00:01:10]>> I would have done the same thing if I were Ian because of the way he was treating him as a criminal.

[00:01:15]>> Renro was arrested and charged for felony aggravated DUI. aggravated because Bradley accused him of driving on a suspended license, a claim later dismissed in court. This video and trooper Bradley's word were the only evidence in the case. Renfro's commercial driving license was eventually suspended and he says he lost his trucking business >> and I was going to fight it all the way through. Um, a trial, um, whatever was needed to clear my name.

[00:01:41]>> For nearly 2 years, Renfro says plea deals were consistently offered, but he didn't accept. Then this past December, on the day his trial was supposed to start, prosecutors dropped all charges.

[00:01:53]The IT team sitting down with him hours later.

[00:01:55]>> It ruined my life. It really did.

[00:01:59]Just to get a piece of it back today feels good.

[00:02:02]>> Renfro is now suing Trooper Bradley on grounds his civil rights were violated.

[00:02:06]A judge has granted Bradley more time to respond to the case.

[00:02:10]>> It really made me look differently at at the justice system in its entirety.

[00:02:13]Trooper Bradley did not respond to our repeated requests for comment. For three years, he was named the state's top cop, an award given by the Illinois Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists for the officer with the highest number of DUI arrests statewide in a calendar year.

[00:02:28]Bradley's DUI arrests grew steadily in that three-year period from 136 arrests in 2022 to 208 arrests in 2024, which led him to receive the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Hero Award last year. But those arrests have been questioned in court.

[00:02:45]>> I can see the pattern and I can see why he gets these arrests because he's pushing the envelope and taking down people who clearly shouldn't have been taken down for DUI.

[00:02:57]>> In another DUI criminal case, public defenders alleged Bradley's arrests follow a common design of fabricating evidence to create probable cause for DUI alcohol arrests. Trooper Bradley repeats this pattern in hundreds of DUI arrests each year.

[00:03:12]>> He's now all of a sudden breaking records year after year on DUI arrest, but he's also getting lawsuits.

[00:03:19]>> After multiple public records requests, the Illinois State Police would not release the names of drivers arrested by Bradley. They also told us they don't track the outcomes of their troopers arrests. So, the ABC7 team turned to court records reviewing all cases since 2023 in Cook County. Most of them filed here in Bridgeview with Trooper Bradley as the arresting officer. After reviewing more than 300 DUI prosecutions stemming from arrests by Bradley since 2023, the IT team found 174 drivers were found not guilty at trial or their cases were dismissed like Ian Renfro. 105 drivers were found guilty. The vast majority accepting plea deals for lesser charges. 40 cases are still pending.

[00:04:01]They hold over that very serious crime that ruins your history over you until they at least get you for something and that happens routinely.

[00:04:11]>> Illinois State Police would not go on camera for this story. A spokesperson telling the IT team, "Securing convictions for DUIs in a court of law is a separate process from the role troopers play. It would be irresponsible not to arrest and remove a person off the roads who is suspected of impaired driving. Ultimately, it is up to the prosecutor to determine whether they can meet the threshold of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:04:34]>> It It's turned my life upside down.

[00:04:36]>> A spokesperson for Illinois State Police told the IT team Trooper Bradley is currently on medical leave after suffering injuries from a work-related accident last summer. Three drivers total have filed lawsuits against the trooper and Illinois State Police over false DUI charges. In two of those lawsuits, Bradley and the state have denied allegations of wrongdoing. In one of those cases, a driver told the IT team after his arrest, he noticed his laptop was missing.

[00:05:01]>> We want to investigate where my items were, and I decided to ping my MacBook, which was missing, and it pinged to an address.

[00:05:07]>> When you got to the door, what happened?

[00:05:10]>> Is everything okay? You're fine? That part of our investigation tomorrow at 10:00.