The man who allegedly drove recklessly through the Mag Mile neighborhood before crashing into the DIOR store on Friday morning received probation last month for a case that started as a home invasion in which he held a knife to a 77-year-old woman’s throat after he drove recklessly through Logan Square, according to court records.
“He grabbed the knife, and he ran towards me, and he grabbed me by the neck right here, and pulled me to the floor,” the woman told CBS2 after the December 2019 incident. More on that in a minute.
Regarding Friday’s episode, prosecutors said Adrien Gutierrez, 35, was high on cocaine and benzodiazepines when he began driving erratically through the downtown area around 11:30 a.m.
He drove his red Camaro the wrong way down several streets, jumped a curb while doing a U-turn, narrowly missed several pedestrians as he drove down a sidewalk, struck an occupied car, and then plowed into the DIOR store’s 3,000-pound reinforced display window, prosecutors said.
After causing $250,000 to $300,000 worth of damage to the boutique, he ran into the store and pulled the fire alarm before he tried to disarm one of the Chicago police officers who rushed in to arrest him, according to the allegations.
Police and witnesses allegedly saw a “white powdery crust” on Gutierrez’s face.
Prosecutors charged him with felony counts of attempting to disarm a peace officer and criminal damage over $100,000. He is also charged with several misdemeanors, including resisting, reckless driving, leaving the scene of a property crime accident, and driving under the influence of drugs.
According to a Chicago police officer who spoke at his bond court hearing, Gutierrez remained hospitalized Sunday for a heart condition and blood on the brain.
Judge Charles Beach said state law prohibited him from holding Gutierrez without bail. Instead, Beach ordered him held in lieu of $350,000. Gutierrez would need to post $35,000 to get out of jail.
Beach also ordered Gutierrez held without bail for violating the probation he received for the Logan Square incident on July 7.
In that case, Gutierrez was accused of crashing his pickup truck into several parked cars and then forcing his way into a senior citizen’s apartment after he ran from the scene.
Once inside the woman’s home, he grabbed a knife, held her by the neck, and forced her to the floor, according to CBS2’s report from 2019. He then allegedly ran from the home and began taking off his clothes.
Prosecutors originally charged him with home invasion with a dangerous weapon, aggravated battery of a senior citizen, aggravated assault of a senior citizen, resisting, leaving the scene, criminal damage, and criminal trespassing, according to CPD records.
On July 7, he pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated battery of a senior citizen in exchange for the probation sentence, prosecutors said Sunday.
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