A Chicago man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for throwing a 61-year-old woman from her vehicle during a carjacking in the Boystown neighborhood in May 2019.
Gary Johnson, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking of a senior citizen in an agreement with prosecutors. The state dropped charges of unlawful restraint and two counts of aggravated battery in the deal. Judge Peggy Chiampas oversaw the case and said Johnson would receive credit for the 693 days he spent in jail before pleading.
Prosecutors said Johnson pulled the woman from her car as she waited for a family member outside of Charlie’s Chicago, a nightclub at 3726 North Broadway around 2:30 a.m. on May 12, 2019. Johnson sped from the scene and crashed the woman’s 2005 Pontiac Grand Prix a short time later as cops tried to pull him over in the 3000 block of North Clark Street, police said.
Surveillance video provided to CWBChicago shows the victim sitting in her car at a bus stop located in a CTA turn-around at 3724 North Broadway. A man is seen stepping out of the bus stop and walking around the back of the woman’s car. He opens the woman’s driver’s door, pulls her from her seat, and throws her from the vehicle, causing her to fall to the pavement as a witness looks on.
State records showed that Johnson was wanted by the Illinois Department of Corrections at the time of the carjacking for failing to abide by the terms of his parole in a gun case. Johnson’s new parole date has not been set.
