In the early morning hours of August 23rd, 2020, Mikey Guzman was walking on the left side of Route 2 near the intersection of Whittemore street in S Beloit IL.
Shortly after 1 a.m a witness testified they seen Mikey walking on the left side of the street. Also on the road that morning was South Beloit Police officer Sawyer Kurth who had been with the department for almost a year.
Kurth testified he never saw Mikey Guzman until he hit him.
Mikey Guzman was killed on the side of the road.
The Guzman family is currently involved in a wrongful death lawsuit against South Beloit alleging that Kurth made no efforts to alert and/or avoid Mikey. It was reported that the dash camera footage shows the moment Kurth hit Mikey.
Kurth did not slow down, swerve honk, activate his lights or sirens prior to hitting Mikey.
This was the 21st case investigated and justified by the Winnebago Boone County Integrity Task Force and first of the 2020’s.
It was the tenth deadly force incident since Tom McNamara took mayoral office.