CHICAGO — On the heels of last night’s double shooting involving men who attended a street takeover on the Southwest Side, we decided to check in on a trio of guys who were accused of having guns during an unrelated stunt-driving session late last year.
As it turns out, two of them fared better than the third, getting special probation that could result in their cases being dropped while their friend caught prison time.
On December 29, a Chicago Police Department surveillance camera team watched live video of the Richard J. Daley boat ramp, 3150 South Western Avenue, knowing the area is popular with stunt drivers who like to do burnouts and spin donuts.
As the officers monitored the video, they saw “multiple vehicles, including a black Infiniti, spinning circles at the boat ramp. Three men who were in the car were also seen posing for pictures with a pair of guns that had large, distinctive ammunition magazines, according to prosecutors.
The Infiniti was heading for the exit when patrol cars arrived. When the driver of the car, allegedly 20-year-old Damian Bello, saw the cops, he “widened his eyes, dropped his jaw, and grabbed the gear shifter in a panicked manner,” an officer wrote in his arrest report.
He slammed his Infiniti into reverse, drifted to the side, accelerated onto a gravel road, hit a ramp, and flew onto some nearby railroad tracks, the report continued. He tried to drive away with his car straddling the tracks, but the Infiniti was severely damaged and became disabled, the officer wrote. Railroad officials told police that three trains were delayed over an hour because an Infiniti stalled out on the rails.
Bello and two passengers, Ronald Benitez, 20, and Adrian Hernandez, 21, all of Aurora, were arrested.
Police said they found two handguns lying in some gravel, about 15 feet from where the Infiniti stopped. One weapon had a loaded, clear, 31-round ammunition magazine attached, and the other had a black 31-round magazine decorated with a D’Usse Cognac logo. Prosecutors said the guns’ unusual ammunition magazines were identifiable on CPD surveillance video. All three men were charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon
Both Hernandez and Benitez have now pleaded guilty to aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in a vehicle before Judge Carol Howard. She gave them both first-time weapon offender probation and 50 hours of community service. Howard also ordered Benitez to exert a “good faith effort to find employment,” according to court records.
If the men complete their probation successfully, their cases will be dismissed without a conviction.
Bello, the driver, did not have such luck. He pleaded guilty to being a felon in possession of a firearm. Howard gave him a two-year sentence with 264 days of credit for the time he spent in custody after being arrested, mostly at home on an ankle monitor. After receiving a 50% sentence reduction for good behavior, he’s expected to be paroled on December 23.
The two-year term is relatively light for the charge. Prosecutors dropped all of Bello’s traffic violations and seven additional gun counts, including the more serious charge of unlawful use of a weapon in a vehicle with a previous conviction.
Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.
