Illinois state trooper suffered brain bleed in shootout with Chicago man in Springfield

Illinois State Police

An Illinois State Trooper suffered a brain bleed and fractures to his face and skull when he was shot several times last week by a Chicago man during a traffic stop in Springfield, the department announced Tuesday.

Trooper Dakotah Chapman-Green stopped Cristobal Santana, who state police have said is a suspect in a “recent” homicide in Chicago, about 10:45 p.m. Oct. 24. in a residential parking lot in south Springfield, according to state police and video the department released Tuesday.

The video appears to show Chapman-Green taking note of Santana’s information when Santana gets out of the car and fires about five shots from a handgun while the trooper quickly moves back from the car and out of frame. 

Surveillance video from a nearby building shows Santana chase the trooper through a parking lot and shoot him at close range after the trooper fell to the ground. He then hit the trooper in the head with his gun, police said.

Santana fired at least 10 rounds, hitting Chapman-Green “several times,” state police said. Chapman-Green returned fire but did not strike Santana.

The video shows Santana returning to his car about 30 seconds after he got out of it and driving away. 

Another video, from a trooper’s vehicle, shows the squad car ram into Santana on a roadway, causing him to flip in the air, before he was taken into custody about 2 a.m.

Chapman-Green and Santana both remained hospitalized as of Tuesday, police said.

“‘Koty’ is a super trooper,” his mother said of him at a press conference Tuesday in Springfield. “He is making great strides. Every day, he is making improvements, and he cannot wait to come back to work.”

Santana was charged last week in the shooting of the trooper with two counts each of attempted murder and aggravated battery to a police officer, and a count of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. A judge ordered him detained in the Sangamon County Jail while awaiting trial.

The family of Adrianna Lopez, 37, who was killed Oct. 22 in front of her Garfield Ridge home, says Santana is her ex-boyfriend and allege he is responsible for her death. 

But no arrests have been reported in the shooting death of Lopez as of Tuesday, according to Chicago police.

Lopez and a male friend had returned to her home in the 9400 block of South Narragansett Avenue that night when someone in a car fired shots, striking Lopez more than 10 times, her family and police said.

Lopez and Santana dated for about a year and a half before they broke up three months ago, according to her family.