Drug dealer, whose sentence was commuted by Obama, charged after shooting woman on highway

Alton D Mills, 54, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder

Alton D Mills’s life sentence was commuted by the Obama administration in 2016 after he served 22 years on drug charges (Twitter/ Illinois State Police)

A former crack-cocaine dealer, who was granted clemency by Barack Obama in 2016, has been arrested over a highway shooting which left a passenger with “life-threatening injuries”.

Alton D Mills, 54, has been charged with three counts of attempted murder, Illinoisstate police said on Thursday.

Mr Mills allegedly fired “multiple shots” at a vehicle traveling behind him on an interstate in the Chicago suburb of Posen.

“Multiple shots were fired from the suspect vehicle, striking the victim’s vehicle. The back-seat passenger in the victim’s vehicle was struck by gunfire and was transported to an area hospital with life-threatening injuries,” police said in a statement.

Mr Mills is being held at the Cook County Jail without bond, police said.

In 2016, Mr Mills had a life sentence commuted by the Obama administration after serving 22 years in prison on drug crimes. He was one of 95 prisoners whose sentences were commuted by Mr Obama.

According to his pardon documents, Mr Mills’ original offence was “conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute and distribution of cocaine base and cocaine and conspiracy to use communication facilities in the commission of drug trafficking offences; use of communication facility to possess with intent to distribute cocaine base (two counts)”.

He was found guilty of being part of a crack cocaine conspiracy in 1994, according to the Pritzker School of Law.