Recently released dashboard camera footage captured a violent confrontation between an Illinois State Police trooper and a murder suspect that left the trooper shot and seriously wounded.
The incident happened shortly before 11 p.m. Oct. 24 when Trooper Dakotah Chapman-Green stopped Cristobal Santana, a suspect in the murder of a Chicago school teacher, in Springfield, WBBM-TV reports. In the footage, Santana is seen exiting his vehicle and opening fire.
Santana fired 10 shots, and Chapman-Green was struck multiple times. Chapman-Green chased Santana to a nearby parking lot, where Santana struck the trooper repeatedly, causing a brain bleed and skull fractures.
Santana then fled the scene, leaving Chapman-Green to be helped by two bystanders.
Troopers later apprehended Santana. He faces two counts of first-degree murder and remains in the hospital.
Chapman-Green also remains hospitalized, and state police officials and family call his recovery miraculous.
"No doubt he's got the heart of a trooper," said Brendan F. Kelly, director of the Illinois State Police.
"I have always told Kody that I'm proud of the man and Illinois state trooper that he is," added Maddy Kinsel, Chapman-Green's fiancée. "I don't think I've ever been more proud of him than I am right now.
