A West Elsdon woman was ordered detained as she awaits trial after she allegedly drove a vehicle through a crowd gathered in the Loop this month to protest ICE’s recent crackdowns across the city and country.
Deirdre Kemp, 30, was ordered held by Judge John Hock on Friday and is next scheduled to appear in court Thursday, according to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Kemp was charged with one count of aggravated reckless driving/bodily harm and one count of aggravated fleeing/bodily injury, as well as misdemeanor driving on a suspended license and two citations for failure to obey police officers and operating an uninsured motor vehicle, according to Chicago police.
Authoirities said two children were in the red Kia Spectra that drove through protesters on State Street about 6 p.m. June 10.
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In court, prosecutors said that Kemp was seen on Chicago police video stopping the car in the intersection of State and Monroe streets with the car’s rear tires in the crosswalk and gesturing from the driver’s side window toward the protest crowd and police officers.
Kemp then continued to drive before turning around and heading southbound on State and approaching the intersection with Monroe, where a large group of protesters were waiting on the west side of Monroe for Chicago police to allow the protest to continue east on Monroe.
Kemp was seen getting out of the car and approached officers standing in a line across Monroe, according to the prosecution’s proffer, then held out a cellphone and was seemingly recording the scene while interacting with the officers. As the police allowed the protesting crowd to continue east on Monroe, Kemp was seen yelling at protesters while still recording on the phone.
She is then seen going back to the car and opening the trunk, from which she takes out some items and proceeds to throw them into the crowd of protesters and officers in the intersection, according to prosecutors.
About 6:15 p.m., an officer approached Kemp near the car after seeing there were children in the back seat. Kemp then gets back into the driver’s seat and was instructed by a uniformed Chicago police sergeant to turn right on Monroe and head westbound away from the protesters. Kemp ignored the commands and instead accelerated and quickly came to a stop just in front of the sergeant. Kemp then turned left on Monroe toward the protesters while yelling obscenities at the sergeant, according to prosecutors.
The sergeant chased after Kemp as she drove the Kia through the protest, and the sergeant ran into a protester, causing them to fall down as Kemp continued east on Monroe toward protesters. The protester who fell was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and suffered a broken arm and bruising to the ribs. The person was not hit by the car Kemp was driving.
Kemp was seen about 8 p.m. that day entering her apartment building on the Southwest Side. On June 12, police received an anonymous tip, claiming a TikTok video of the suspect’s vehicle from the incident and the driver lived at the residence.
Police found the vehicle at a West Elsdon address and learned the registration was not in Kemp’s name and had expired in February 2024.
Kemp was taken into custody June 19, and police also learned Kemp’s license was suspended, according to authorities.
Originally Published: June 24, 2025 at 7:35 PM CDT