A Chicago man who allegedly killed a 12-year-old girl when he slammed head-on into an SUV while speeding near Midway Airport last month may not have been drunk after all, prosecutors said during a follow-up hearing on Friday.
Last month, officials said Daniel Regalado’s blood-alcohol level was .457 — more than five times the legal limit — when he arrived at Stroger Hospital after the crash that killed Cire Robinson on the 4900 block of South Cicero at 9:35 p.m. January 20.
But prosecutors corrected themselves during a follow-up court appearance on Friday, saying someone omitted a zero when noting his actual BAC level of .0457.
“I wanna apologize to Cire because she was a little 12-year-old, and I have a daughter, and I can just imagine how that lady feels right now,” Regalado said Friday after being advised not to speak in court. “And I know she mad and I’m very sorry. But I didn’t do that. That wasn’t me, and I just wanna apologize.”
“I just wanna say I’m sorry to the mom and to the dad,” Regalado said with a breaking voice.
Judge David Navarro said during an initial bond hearing last month that Regalado’s alleged intoxication level “is, I’ll say, the highest I have seen with an individual who is still alive.”
But Friday, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said Regalado’s blood-alcohol level was actually .0457, which is below the .08 legal limit.
Prosecutors withdrew two DUI-related charges against Regalado on Friday, but one intoxicated driving charge remains even though his recorded BAC was lower than the .08 legal limit. He is also still charged with reckless homicide with a motor vehicle.
The state will try to demonstrate that Regalado was intoxicated based on the blood test and his alleged admissions to drinking two beers before the collision, Murphy said.
The veteran prosecutor also told Marubio there is no evidence to support Regalado’s claim that he was being chased and shot at before the crash.
Dashcam video from an oncoming Lyft driver’s car shows no vehicles pursuing Regalado’s car before the collision, he said. According to Murphy, four witnesses also told police that they did not see anyone chasing or shooting at him, and CPD ShotSpotter technology did not detect gunfire in the area.
Judge Mary Marubio reduced Regalado’s bail to $300,000 and ordered him to go onto electronic monitoring if he posts the mandatory $30,000 deposit. He is still being held without bail for violating the terms of bail in pending cases.
In one on-going matter, Regalado is charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and reckless discharge of a firearm stemming from a July 2018 incident that prompted a SWAT stand-off in Oak Park.
A mugshot taken after his arrest in that case shows Regalado smiling widely to expose his fang-shaped teeth. Regalado was allowed to get out of jail by paying a $500 bond.
In January 2019, prosecutors charged him with felony manufacture-delivery of cannabis. A judge released him on his own recognizance in that case and for an additional $250 in the pending Oak Park gun case.
Seven months later, with both of those cases still pending, Regalado was again arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of another gun, court records show.
Judge Ramon Ocasio, who is overseeing his cases, allowed him to get out of jail by posting just $500 more.
In December 2015, prosecutors charged Regalado with five counts of attempted murder, unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, and possessing a defaced firearm following an incident in the 700 block of North Orleans in River North. A grand jury later returned a total of 17 felony counts against him, including five counts of attempted murder.
Cook County prosecutors dropped the entire case in March 2017.
Regalado was the third person to be charged with killing or shooting someone in Chicago this year while on bail for other serious felonies.