Chicago — A Chicago man was driving left of the center line at about 75 mph when he collided with another car on Michigan Avenue, killing the other driver and injuring six people, including himself, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Kendall Sprouts, 18, was ordered to pay a $2,000 bail deposit to be released from custody during a bail hearing before Judge Kelly McCarthy.
Spouts, a college football player with no criminal background, was driving his grandmother’s Infiniti G37 south in the 1400 block of South Michigan Avenue when the other driver pulled away from a police traffic stop and tried to complete a U-turn in front of him, prosecutors said.
The Infiniti slammed into the Hyundai Sonata that was in the middle of the U-turn and then struck a Jeep Compass that was heading north on Michigan Avenue and several parked cars before coming to a stop.
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An assistant state’s attorney said the Jeep “would have been in the direct path of the defendant’s car but for the U-turning Sonata.”
Prosecutors said that preliminary test results showed Sprouts was not under the influence of any substance at the time of the crash.
The crash killed the Sonata’s driver, 22-year-old Keyshawn Gray. Prosecutors say that an 18-year-old woman who was in the front passenger seat of Gray’s car is still in intensive care with broken ribs, a broken spine, and other serious injuries. The back seat passenger of the Sonata, three people in the Jeep, and Sprouts were all taken to hospitals and treated for minor injuries.
“This is a horrifying and sad situation. This was a car accident,” said Sprouts’ private defense attorney, Donna Rotunno. “The car does a U-turn in the middle of the road as my client is driving the proper way down the street.”
Rotunno highlighted that Gray was “fleeing from the police” when he drove away from the traffic stop.
She said Sprouts is a Morgan Park High School graduate who plays on the football team at St. Olaf College near Minneapolis. She said he does not drink or smoke, have tattoos, or have gang affiliations. His family is “very close.”
Sprouts is charged with reckless homicide with a motor vehicle and aggravated reckless driving causing bodily harm. Both charges could result in a sentence of probation upon conviction.
McCarthy granted Sprouts permission to return to Minnesota to continue his studies while the case is pending.