A Cook County mother of five left Saturday’s Driver’s License Reinstatement Expo in tears after all charges against her were dismissed, ending a 12-year-long suspension of her driver’s license.
Calanthea Caldwell, 36, is an operating room technician at Rush University Medical Center. Her license was first suspended in 2014 when she got a ticket for driving without insurance. Since then, she’s accumulated additional violations, including for failure to appear in court and other minor traffic tickets.
Without a valid license, Caldwell says she has been spending nearly $80 a day on Uber rides to get herself and her children to work and school.
“I’m crying tears of joy because I’ve waited years to get my license back,” Caldwell said. “I’m racking up more debt than I’m able to pay working one job.”
The Driver’s License Reinstatement Expo provides Cook County residents with free legal assistance to help restore suspended or revoked Illinois driver’s licenses. Saturday’s event was hosted by the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council at Malcolm X College.
The event partners with the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, the Cook County public defender’s office, judges, and pro bono attorneys to create a one-stop shop for residents seeking relief. Nearly 500 people registered to attend, and there were many other walk-ins.
Expo founder Alex Garcia said the event is held annually during Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month to support Black and Brown communities that are disproportionately impacted by license suspensions.
“Public transportation is an option. Ride-sharing is another option, but driving is probably the easiest option,” Garcia said.
For people like Caldwell, however, public transportation can be time-consuming and ride-sharing expensive.
Garcia said the Pilsen Neighbors Community Council has also been advocating for local and state policy changes to prevent certain moving violations from resulting in licenses being suspended or revoked.
“Anybody can be stopped for a traffic ticket, and anyone can be impacted by the system,” Deputy Public Defender Parle Roe-Taylor said.
Roe-Taylor has volunteered with the expo since its launch in 2019 and helped Garcia recruit judges and attorneys.
“Everyone is coming together so that we can complete our mission to get people in the position to drive — legally, properly and under all the rules of the road,” Roe-Taylor said.
Attorney Shay Meredith, who works with the public defender’s office, also volunteered at the event.
“It’s really nice seeing people’s faces light up when they realize, ‘Oh my gosh, I can actually get my license,’” Meredith said.
Meredith specializes in cases involving driving with a suspended or revoked license.
“The vast majority of reasons I see people’s licenses suspended are an inability to pay fines or an inability to come to court because they have family obligations,” she said. “It’s not because we have a bunch of dangerous criminals on the road causing crashes left and right.”
Jamari Cotton, 22, also had his license reinstated during the expo. His license had been suspended after he accumulated too many traffic violations before turning 21. With the help of his pro bono attorney, Martha Soto, Cotton had his cases dismissed because none were DUI-related.
“I’ve just been granted a privilege again,” Cotton said.
Cotton is a sophomore studying electrical engineering at Western Illinois University, located nearly 240 miles southwest of Chicago in Macomb.
He received two violations — one for disregarding a stop sign and another for a headlight issue — both in rural towns outside Chicago.
“In smaller counties, with local officers, I had a headlight out, so that gives them a reason to pull me over,” Cotton said. “The whole situation could just escalate from there.”
Both Cotton and Caldwell had their charges dismissed in full. Each will still need to complete a driving test and re-register their licenses before legally returning to the road.