The driver of a BMW SUV that struck two pedestrians, then circled back and struck a third person before crashing into a fence in Lakeview early Sunday is identified in CPD reports as the same man who recently received probation for striking and killing a 93-year-old woman with a BMW SUV in Edgewater.
Two crash reports filed after Sunday’s incidents identify the driver as 32-year-old Rayon Allen. One report lists his home address on the 5500 block of North Kenmore in Edgewater while the other says he lives on the 3800 block of North Broadway. And, according to CPD records, the SUV involved in Sunday’s crashes is the same car that fatally struck the woman in 2018.
Without identifying the driver by name, Chicago police said in a media statement that a man and woman, both 39, were crossing the street at Irving Park and Broadway when they were struck by a BMW around 12:49 a.m. The driver made a U-turn and headed south on Broadway, where he struck a 55-year-old bicyclist who was trying to help the first two victims, according to the CPD statement.
The BMW then crashed into a fence on the 3800 block of North Broadway, and officers arrested the driver at the scene, police said. A CPD crash report said the BMW ran into a fence at Gill Park and also crashed into a fence at a BP station while making the U-turn.
Police said the 39-year-old woman and the 55-year-old man were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in critical condition with head trauma. The 39-year-old man was taken to St. Francis Hospital with leg pain while the driver was treated for bruises to his face at Masonic, police said.
The crash investigation is still underway, and no criminal charges have been filed as of 11 a.m., according to Officer Roberto Garduno, a CPD spokesperson.
Two traffic crash reports secured by CWBChicago list the driver as Allen and say the BMW X5 involved in the incident was uninsured. According to the reports, the 39-year-old pedestrians live at separate addresses in Lakeview, while the bicyclist lives less than two blocks north of the crash scene in Uptown.
Allen recently received 30-months probation after pleading guilty to reckless homicide for striking and killing 93-year-old Lorraine Campione as she walked in the 5500 block of North Sheridan on September 24, 2018.
Police said two other drivers yielded to allow Campione to cross a driveway around 11:20 that morning, but Allen made an improper left turn in his SUV, overtook a vehicle on the left, and hit Campione.
Police said that Allen continued to drive forward after striking the elderly woman, which caused her body to become wedged under the front left driver’s side tire. Allen got out of his SUV and tried to remove Campione by pulling on her leg, according to witnesses. When that failed, he allegedly tried to take other motorists’ cars. That also failed.
The BMW involved in Sunday’s crash is the same BMW that killed Campione, according to vehicle identification numbers shown in CPD reports from the two cases.
Just a few months ago, Judge James Obbish sentenced Allen to probation and ordered him to participate in a “victim impact panel” after Allen pleaded guilty to reckless homicide with a motor vehicle. Obbish also ordered Allen to submit to random drug tests, provide a DNA sample for indexing, and get permission from authorities before leaving the state.
One of Sunday’s crash reports said the “driver [was] arrested on suspect DUI,” but finalized blood alcohol testing results were unavailable.
CWBChicago will post an update if charges are filed.
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