Two of Chicago’s most ubiquitous infrastructure features — Divvy bikes and police POD cameras – teamed up to create an awful night for Brian Miller and Antonea Mason this week.
Prosecutors said the couple’s car crashed into a Divvy bike station in Streeterville. Then, police who were monitoring the situation via surveillance cameras saw them fumble with a handgun before patrol officers arrived. Now, they’re both facing felony weapons charges.
Miller, 30, was driving their 2007 Pontiac when it crashed into a Divvy bike rack on the 500 block of North Lake Shore Drive around 3:15 a.m. Monday, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Ryan DeGroot. Mason, 25, was reportedly in the car’s passenger seat.
CPD surveillance footage captured images of the couple getting out of the crashed car and switching seats, DeGroot said. The video allegedly goes on to show Miller reaching under the driver’s side dash, retrieving a handgun, and placing it in Mason’s purse while she held it open.
The duo then got back out of the car and spoke with arriving cops — who had just been tipped off to the gun’s location by officers who were watching the POD camera feed, DeGroot said. Mason placed her purse on the trunk of the car, and officers allegedly saw the gun lying inside.
She allegedly told police that the gun belonged to Miller while a squad car dashcam was recording her statement.
“Her alleged actions were, uh, not very smart,” Judge Susana Ortiz said before setting Mason’s bail at $5,000. Charged with unlawful use of a weapon, Mason will need to post a $500 deposit bond to get out of jail.
Miller’s situation is a bit more precarious. He’s on parole for driving with a suspended license, and he still isn’t licensed to drive, according to DeGroot, who said Miller’s been convicted three times for driving on a suspended license since 2017.
He’s now charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and driving on a suspended license (again).
Ortiz set Miller’s bail at $50,000 and ordered him to go onto electronic monitoring if he can post a $5,000 deposit bond. But she also ordered him held without bail because the state is considering revocation of his parole.
