Tesla Cybertruck Crash: Off-Duty Joliet Police Officer Pays Her $164 Traffic Ticket

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Police Officer Kristen Ames, whose mother Pauline Ames has been a long-time Joliet City Hall employee, has resolved her May 31 off-duty Tesla Cybertruck crash into the Wexford Subdivision townhomes, paying a $164 traffic ticket fine to the Will County Courthouse, Joliet Patch learned.

Rather than summoning an outside agency such as the Will County Sheriff's Office or the Illinois State Police to the one-vehicle crash scene, Joliet Police Department co-workers gave Ames a single traffic ticket, failure to reduce speed, carrying the $164 fine. It's the same fine given for other minor traffic infractions such as failure to stop at a stop sign.

The Cybertruck crash at the corner of North Addleman Street and Tyler Drive and caused substantial property damage, destroying a balcony, air conditioner and the lower level of the townhouse of long-time resident Linda Sowder.

However, this week's scheduled court hearing was canceled after Kristen Ames chose to pay her $164 fine online and request court supervision.

Meanwhile, Joliet Patch obtained several responses to its series of Freedom of Information Act requests to the Joliet Police Department in regard to the off-duty crash. The Cybertruck veered off the road near the Wexford Subdivision, destroying a sign before crashing into a townhome around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 31.

The Cybertruck was owned by a suburban man who has a real estate company, and the man left his gun inside the truck, the traffic reports show. The man was not inside the Tesla when Ames crashed. She was accompanied by a female passenger who's around her age, the reports note.

The Joliet Police Department denied Patch's Freedom of Information Act request seeking access to the officer body camera video from the incident.

"The Joliet Police Department is required to follow both the Illinois Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act and the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, and the denial of body-worn camera footage is consistent with these legal obligations," Joliet police spokesman Dwayne English informed Joliet Patch. "Pursuant to 50 ILCS 706/10-20(b)(3), the footage does not document a use of force, detention, arrest, or any incident involving discharge of a weapon, or any other qualifying circumstance outlined in the statute, and therefore is not subject to release under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act as a traffic citation is not considered an arrest."

On the other hand, Joliet Patch obtained access to the 911 calls as well as the Joliet Police Department and Fire Department Computer-Aided Dispatch reports for the call.

911 Calls Came In Reporting Crash

Here's a summary of the 911 calls made from the off-duty Joliet officer's crash scene:

Dispatcher: "Joliet 911, what is your emergency?"

Caller 1: "Injury accident Addleman and Tyler Drive."

Dispatcher: "What kind of cars are involved?"

Caller 1: "I don't know. The car just went off the road and it looks like it rolled over."

Caller 2: "A car that drove onto the sidewalk into the houses."

Dispatcher: "It hit a house?"

Caller 2: "We're going outside right now to see. We're in townhouses. I'm unsure if the person is even in the car. It just happened."

Dispatcher: "It hit a house?"

Caller 2: "Yes, it did."

Dispatcher: "What address? Did it hit your house?"

Caller 2: "No, I'm one of the townhouses."

Dispatcher: "Can anybody tell me the address for the house that it hit?"

Caller 2: "3565 Tyler Drive."

Dispatcher: "Is anybody injured in the house?"

Caller 2: "I'm not sure if anybody in the house is injured. There's two people in the car. They're not out yet. Are you guys OK? Are you guys OK? I don't know if the person's house that got hit, her whole balcony is gone and the window's gone."

Dispatcher: "So it hit the balcony, OK. Is the people in the car, are they conscious?"

Caller 2: "Yes, she's talking. It's a female driving."

Dispatcher: "Is there anybody else in the car with her?"

Caller 2: "Let me find out. Do you have somebody with you in the car? Do you have somebody with you in the car? There's another person in the car."

Dispatcher: "Is the other person conscious and breathing?"

Caller 2 yells: "Is the other person conscious? I need to see the other person. Is she awake? OK."

Dispatcher: "So, she's awake, too? Are they out of the car yet?"

Caller 2: "No, they're sitting in the car. She's under the influence, but that's just my guess."

The 911 dispatcher then asked the caller to spell her name and provide her address for her.

Afterward, the caller exclaims, "Oh my God."

Dispatcher: "Alrighty. We've got everybody coming. What about the homeowner?"

Caller 2: "She's not home. We don't have any contact with her. We have someone calling her."

Dispatcher: "All right, OK, but the house that was hit was 3565 Tyler?"

Caller 2: "Yeah."'

Dispatcher: "All right. We've got them coming."

Caller 2: "3563, that's on me. We're all right here at the corner."

A third 911 call came from a middle-aged woman who was not calling from the crash scene. However, she knew Officer Ames and knew that Ames was inside the Tesla Cybertruck.

Dispatcher: "Joliet 911, what is your emergency?"

Caller 3: "Hi, I'm trying to find out. I was just informed there's a really bad accident with one of those Tesla Cybertrucks. Over by September (Drive.)"

The 911 caller's next statement was redacted in the 911 calls given to Joliet Patch. From there, the call continues when the caller says, "... in that car. I'm just trying to find out are they going to St. Joe's or what's going on?"

After the dispatcher says "What," the rest of her question is redacted in the 911 audio provided to Joliet Patch. The call resumes when the 911 caller says, "Kristen Ames. She's a Joliet police officer. She was in the car, but we don't know if she was in it when it crashed."

Dispatcher: "OK, who would she have been in the vehicle with?"

The caller's response was redacted from the 911 tape provided to Joliet Patch.

Dispatcher: "OK. I don't know if that's going to be this crash. Hold on a second, I'm going to place you on hold and I'm going to find out from my sergeant. What's your name?"

The caller's answer was redacted from the 911 audio sent to Patch.

"One second ... let me call the sergeant and find out."

Caller: "All right, thank you."

Dispatcher: "So, I talked to the sergeant and he's there and she's OK. She's not injured. I can't give you too much more information. He's going to call you directly and let you know what's going on. But she's OK."

Caller: "OK, I appreciate that very much."

Dispatcher: "Yeah, and no problem. And let me just to be sure this is the best number to call you back at."

Joliet Officers Responded To Crash Scene

According to the computer-aided dispatch, commonly called CAD logs, obtained by Patch, Joliet police and firefighter-paramedics were notified of the crash at 8:29 p.m.

And even though the last 911 caller learned Ames not injured in the crash, both occupants of the Tesla, Ames and her passenger, were loaded into Joliet Fire Department ambulance 8 at 8:36 p.m. — seven minutes after the wreck happened and less than 90 seconds from the time the ambulance arrived on the scene, the CAD logs show.

Joliet Fire Department ambulance 8 notified dispatch it was returning to regular service at 9:12 p.m.

The CAD reports indicate that five members of the Joliet Police Department responded to the Tesla Cybertruck crash involving their fellow officer — Joliet Police Sgt. Kent Liebermann, Sgt. David Wall, officers Joshua White, John Lundberg and Christopher Ibarra.

White, who also joined the police force in 2024, was responsible for giving Ames the single traffic ticket.

Two hours after the crash, at 10:30 p.m., Joliet Police Lt. Andrew Jose emailed Deputy Police Chief Rob Brown, who oversees their department's upper command operations, access to the Joliet police Axon body camera evidence from the Wexford subdivision crash, a subsequent FOIA request showed.

Patch asked police spokesman English why the Joliet Police did not summon an outside agency to investigate the crash, to avoid a conflict of interest.

"We expect our officers to promptly respond to calls for service and conduct a thorough investigation, no matter who is involved," English responded. "The Joliet Police Department does not summon outside agencies to investigate non injury property damage crashes that occur within our jurisdiction."

Patch also pointed out to the Joliet police spokesman that both the 911 call from an eyewitness as well as the CAD reports indicate Kristen Ames may have been under the influence during her Tesla crash on May 31. Patch asked if was Ames given any alcohol or drug tests, and if not, why not, considering the incident was relayed to the Joliet Police Department as a possible DUI?

"Responding officers evaluated the driver at the scene and found no indicators of alcohol or drug influence," English announced. "Under Illinois law, officers must have reasonable suspicion or probable cause based on observed signs of impairment to conduct field sobriety tests or chemical testing. In this case, that legal threshold was not met, and therefore no alcohol or drug tests were administered."

As for Kristen Ames, 26, she was introduced in July 2024 as one of the newest officers with the Joliet Police Department, during a swearing-in ceremony.

In an exclusive story published June 5, Joliet Police Detective Sgt. Tizoc Landeros, serving as his agency's spokesperson, told Joliet Patch it was a simple accident, and there is no internal affairs investigation underway involving Officer Ames.

He said Kristen Ames remains on regular duty and is not the target of any disciplinary action.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Off-Duty Joliet Police Officer Crashes Man's Cybertruck Into Townhouse, Gun Found In Tesla | Joliet, IL Patch