A Logan Sq. man who warned a neighbor to “watch what I’m going to do” moments earlier than driving his pickup into a bunch of picnickers in 2021 was sentenced to greater than 9 years in jail on Wednesday, based on court docket information.
Timothy Nielsen, 62, pleaded responsible to at least one rely of tried homicide throughout a listening to earlier than Decide Shelley Sutker-Dermer. She sentenced him to 9½ years.
The plea got here after Nielsen exhausted a years-long effort to get the case thrown out on double jeopardy grounds. He argued that the prosecution was unconstitutional as a result of he had already pleaded responsible to a reckless driving ticket issued on the scene. However the courts rejected that argument, clearing the way in which for the case to maneuver ahead.
Prosecutors stated the incident unfolded shortly after 5 p.m. on Might 1, 2021, when Nielsen slammed his Ford F-150 right into a birthday picnic gathering alongside the 2900 block of West Logan Boulevard. Prosecutors stated Nielsen pulled his crimson pickup into a close-by alley and commenced talking with a person who was watering flowers. After asking how lengthy the person had lived within the neighborhood, Nielsen complained about “yuppies on the boulevard” and informed him, “watch what I’m going to do,” prosecutors stated.
Lower than a minute later, folks screamed from the boulevard’s parkway. When the neighbor ran towards the noise, he noticed what prosecutors described as “chaos unfolding.”
Nielsen had pushed to a bunch celebrating a birthday, argued about their canine, and have become hostile when the group requested him to depart, prosecutors stated. As a substitute of driving off, Nielsen backed up, turned his several-ton truck towards the gathering, and accelerated.
His Ford F150 rolled over bicycles, chairs, and a YETI cooler earlier than the cooler turned wedged beneath the automobile and stopped it from transferring farther, based on prosecutors. One lady turned pinned underneath the truck. A second sufferer suffered minor accidents when struck whereas making an attempt to flee. Two others managed to get out of the way in which.
Even because the group shouted that somebody was trapped beneath the truck, prosecutors stated, Nielsen stored making an attempt to speed up. The girl was handled for her accidents and later launched.
“However for that YETI cooler… this can be a really totally different case,” a prosecutor stated throughout Nielsen’s preliminary detention listening to.
One other lady driving previous the scene bought out of her automobile, ran to Nielsen’s truck, switched off the engine, grabbed the keys, and took a knife that he allegedly swung at folks making an attempt to drag him from the driving force’s seat, based on prosecutors.
Prosecutors additionally detailed Nielsen’s historical past of violence. In 1989, he and one other man kidnapped a sufferer at gunpoint whereas posing as law enforcement officials, took him to a storage, beat him, and demanded ransom. He later pleaded responsible.
He additionally pleaded responsible to a federal extortion case in 2001. In accordance with a contemporaneous Chicago Tribune report, Nielsen was accused of crushing a glass into the face of an escort service operator who owed his brother cash for a “juice” mortgage.
In 2012, he acquired a three-year sentence for retail theft.
Nielsen should serve 85 % of his tried homicide sentence, minus 999 days of credit score for the time he has already spent in custody since his arrest.
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