Officer hit by driver using phone survived 27 years on the force, only to be killed ‘simply walking home,’ prosecutor says

A Palatine man was using his phone when he fatally struck a retired Chicago police officer in January on the Northwest Side and then kept driving, Cook County prosecutors said Thursday.

Ted Plevritis, 62, was driving a Jeep Cherokee west on Touhy Avenue around 6:15 p.m. on Jan. 20 when he struck Richard Haljean as he crossed at Oriole Avenue, prosecutors said.