A Bellwood police officer is accused of sending confidential information from a law enforcement database to the owner of a car involved in a shooting and advising the owner to get rid of the vehicle and license plates.
Michael Davis, 32, was arrested Friday and charged with official misconduct, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. He has worked for the Bellwood Police Department since January 2025.
Prosecutors said Davis sent the information to an acquaintance who was being investigated in connection with an incident on July 5, 2025, in River Forest. Prosecutors say the acquaintance was driving a BMW that fled a marked River Forest police car during an attempted traffic stop. A River Forest officer later followed the BMW in an unmarked police vehicle, and someone fired shots at that officer’s vehicle, prosecutors allege.
During the ensuing investigation, River Forest police obtained a warrant for the BMW owner’s cellphone and discovered that someone identified as “Mikey Davis” had sent the BMW’s owner photos containing information about the vehicle from a confidential law enforcement database known as LEADS, prosecutors said.
The images reportedly contain sensitive information relating to the vehicle and its involvement in the July 5, 2025 incident. The person who sent the images also shared several messages, including:
“This is what we see when we spin your plate.”
“This shows that it was involved in a crime, what crime was committed and where it happened.”
“Put that car in a garage or something and I highly recommend you sell it so you can get rid of those license plates.”
River Forest Police determined that “Mikey Davis” appeared to be Bellwood Police Officer Michael Davis and turned the case over to the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, who opened a separate investigation. The sheriff’s investigation allegedly linked Davis to the phone number that sent the images and messages.
Metadata from the shared photos shows they were taken at about the same time as the posts and that they were taken at or near the Bellwood police station, prosecutors said. According to the charges, Davis was on duty when the images were sent.
Judge D’Anthony Thedford released Davis pending trial, but ordered him to surrender all firearms and his firearm owner’s identification card.
“No one is above the law, and my office will continue to hold police officers to the highest ethical and professional standards,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a statement. “Public officials who take an oath to serve the public must be held accountable when they betray that trust and abuse the enormous responsibility that comes with it.”
