A 19-year-old Halfway Airport ramp employee is charged with killing a rideshare driver and the motive force’s passenger in a drunken high-speed crash exterior Chicago police headquarters.
Erick Garcia-Ambriz faces two counts of aggravated DUI inflicting dying and two counts of reckless murder in reference to the October 14, 2024, collision that claimed the lives of Kalieb Ghebreyesus and his passenger, Shanika Smith. Each victims had been 41.
Prosecutors allege Garcia-Ambriz was rushing southbound on Michigan Avenue in his black 2014 Infiniti Q50 when he ran a crimson mild at thirty fifth Avenue and struck Ghebreyesus’ Chevy Bolt within the intersection at 86 mph. The influence precipitated the rideshare automobile to flip and land on its passenger facet on the sidewalk throughout the road from CPD headquarters, Assistant State’s Legal professional Mary Grace Donnelly stated.
Surveillance footage from police headquarters captured the crash and confirmed the site visitors mild had been crimson for 43 seconds earlier than Garcia-Ambriz entered the intersection, in line with prosecutors. One other driver who witnessed Garcia-Ambriz approaching at excessive velocity pulled to the facet to let him cross moments earlier than listening to the crash, Donnelly stated.
Officers contained in the headquarters constructing heard the collision and instantly responded to the scene, the place they discovered Garcia-Ambriz within the driver’s seat of his automobile, prosecutors stated. Each victims, who had been carrying their seatbelts, needed to be extricated by the hearth division and had been pronounced lifeless on the College of Chicago Hospital. Garcia-Ambriz’s front-seat passenger suffered cuts and bruises however survived the crash, prosecutors stated.
Garcia-Ambriz admitted to being the motive force, and a blood draw confirmed his blood alcohol focus was .105, above the .08 authorized restrict, prosecutors allege. Information recovered from Garcia-Ambriz’s automobile indicated he didn’t apply the brakes till a half-second earlier than influence, Donnelly stated. DNA testing allegedly matched Garcia-Ambriz to genetic materials recovered from his airbag.
Prosecutors requested Decide Susana Ortiz to detain Garcia-Ambriz, however she denied that request, opting as a substitute to ship him residence on an ankle monitor.
It stays unclear why expenses weren’t filed till greater than a 12 months after the deadly collision.
