The Cellar - Race in America

Well, here's a heartwarming story out of Chicago about police doing it right and giving a black man every chance to not only survive; but, retain his freedom.

Quote:

Driver charged with first-degree murder after leading police on an hourslong high-speed chase, bail set at $1 million

The suspect in a high-speed chase earlier this week now faces first-degree murder charges for the death of a woman who was killed when her vehicle was hit by a Chicago police squad car involved in the pursuit.

Marcel Oliver, 22, is accused of leading Chicago and state police on a two-hour chase across the city Wednesday evening. The 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee authorities say he was driving reached speeds of over 100 mph. …

… In bond court, it was revealed that the Jeep Oliver was allegedly driving was one of 40 vehicles stolen sometime between May 30 and June 1 from a Toyota dealership at 6941 S. Western Ave.

Prosecutors said on June 1, police observation video spotted an individual hanging out the passenger window of the Jeep and firing multiple shots in the direction of a home in the 10400 block of South State Street. ...

… Following the shooting, police put out an alert on the Jeep. On Tuesday, the Jeep was seen near 108th and State streets, and officers pursued the vehicle briefly before terminating the chase.

The next day, the Jeep was seen in a McDonald’s parking lot at 11319 S. Halsted St., with four men inside. A chase began across the South Side, with officers losing sight of the Jeep several times along the way.

Shortly after 9 p.m., the chase resumed with the Jeep getting onto the northbound Dan Ryan Expressway at 87th Street and continuing on the Kennedy Expressway toward O’Hare International Airport, then going south on the Kennedy, prosecutors said.

The Jeep exited the expressway at Irving Park Road and crashed into a vehicle waiting at the stoplight near Keystone Avenue, according to prosecutors. An Illinois State Police trooper approached the Jeep but could not open the driver door because of damage from the crash. The trooper opened the passenger side and had one arm on Oliver, but he escaped and ran east, prosecutors said. …

… At a gas station in the 3900 block of West Irving Park, Oliver got into a sport utility vehicle that had been left running, according to prosecutors. He ordered a 19-year-old woman in the passenger seat out.

Officers and the man who had been driving the SUV attempted to drag Oliver out of the vehicle. A state trooper tased Oliver, but he was able to drive away, heading east on Irving Park, prosecutors said.

A few minutes later, Oliver ran through a red light at the intersection of Irving Park and Ashland Avenue at high speeds, according to prosecutors. A marked CPD squad car with two officers inside was directly behind Oliver, also traveling at a high rate of speed.

The squad car crashed into a Ford Explorer traveling northbound on Ashland. The driver, 37-year-old Guadalupe Francisco-Martinez, was transported to Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

The squad car spun out and hit the front of a 2005 Hummer, which was stopped at the red light. The driver of the Hummer, a 62-year-old man and two women with him, 29 and 44, were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition.

A 22-year-old officer in the car suffered severe head trauma and remains heavily sedated at the hospital, according to prosecutors. The second officer, 25, underwent surgery for a broken femur and is being treated for lung damage. As of Saturday, both remain in serious condition, prosecutors said.

Oliver got onto Lake Shore Drive, and another police unit spotted his SUV near Roosevelt Road and Columbus Drive. The officers followed the SUV all the way to a parking lot near 108 W. 23rd St. This lot has only one entrance, and Oliver then turned his car around to face two CPD squad cars. Officers ordered Oliver out of the car and broke the windows of the vehicle in an effort to remove him, prosecutors said.

Oliver again drove away, allegedly hitting one of the unoccupied CPD squad cars as he fled. He drove onto railroad tracks in the 3900 block of South Morgan Street, where the SUV got stuck. Prosecutors said Oliver then ran.

Around 10:15 p.m. near 815 W. Pershing Road, Oliver was found trapped in barbed wire atop the fencing of a truck yard, according to prosecutors.

Oliver was taken into custody and brought to the University of Chicago Medical Center for injuries from the barbed wire and for treatment of a gunshot wound from two weeks earlier, prosecutors said. ...

The police showed restraint, so much so that they can now be replaced by barbed wire.