A Roseland man who allegedly led police on a cross-city car chase that resulted in a woman being killed by a speeding Chicago police squad car has been charged with murder and other felonies.
Marcel Oliver, 22, of Roseland is charged with first-degree murder, vehicular hijacking, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, failure to report an accident involving injury, and three counts of aggravated fleeing causing bodily injury. Judge Arthur Willis set bail for Oliver at $1 million cash.
“These are the kind of events that are dangerous to every individual,” Willis said. “If the individual had just stopped, none of this would have occurred.”
Police first engaged Oliver around 8:15 p.m. Wednesday in the Riverdale neighborhood after they learned the Jeep he was driving had been connected with a series of crimes in the suburbs, police said. Oliver then led police on a lengthy pursuit, according to a timeline provided by police. The Illinois State Police later said Oliver was being sought in connection with a homicide.
After the Jeep crashed in the Irving Park neighborhood, he allegedy got out, ran to a service station, and stole another SUV that was idling at a gas pump. The chase resumed at high speeds through streets on the city’s North Side, eventually entering the Lakeview neighborhood shortly before 10 p.m.
As the pursuit sped along Irving Park Road, a CPD squad car slammed into an SUV driven by Guadalupe Francisco-Martinez, 37. She was pronounced dead a short time later.
Video secured by CBS2 shows the squad car speeding into the intersection of Irving Park and Ashland against the light. Francisco-Martinez, who had the green light, drives into the intersection and is struck by the CPD unit. The squad car spins then slams into another SUV that was waiting for the light to change in the opposite direction. Three people in that car were hospitalized in fair condition, according to police.
Two officers, ages 25 and 22, who were in the squad car were also listed in fair condition.
Oliver was arrested about 20 minutes later after he crashed in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Police said he ran from the scene, but officers caught up with him after he became entangled in barbed wire atop a fence, according to cops on the scene. He was taken to University of Chicago Hospital in serious condition.
In bond court Saturday, Oliver’s public defender said the police chase violated CPD’s policies and directives.
Francisco-Martinez was killed as she drove home from her first day at a new job, according to information from family members that was posted on GoFundMe. She had six children and prosecutors said she was bringing home pizza for one of her daughters.
The online fundraising campaign collected $26,614 to pay for funeral expenses, “a mariachi band that she always wanted,” and to cover the expense of transporting her remains to Mexico where she’ll be buried next to her father, the family wrote.
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