A party bus driver has been sentenced to two years in prison for crashing into 18 vehicles near Wrigley Field three summers ago. And, because Gregory Baldwin was home on bail while his case was pending, he will actually spend half of his sentence in a real prison.
Baldwin, 48, dropped off his passengers at the ballpark on a Saturday afternoon in August 2022 and made his way through traffic that was especially congested because the annual Northalsted Market Days street festival was underway in Boystown.
Prosecutors said he was driving the party bus north on Broadway near Cornelia when he drove around a backup and headed into oncoming traffic, even as a witness tried to get him to stop.
Part of what happened next was captured on a viral video:
Among the 18 vehicles Baldwin struck was a Chicago Fire Department ambulance occupied by an EMT.
A motorist followed the party bus and kept 911 operators updated on its location until police cornered it in a circular drive at the mouth of Belmont Harbor. A Market Days crew member said he followed the bus while waiting for police to bring the bus driver back to the crash site for identification.
This week, Baldwin pleaded guilty to criminal damage to government property—the ambulance—before Judge Aleksandra Gillespie. She handed him the two-year sentence with two days of credit for time he spent in custody after being arrested.
His sentence will be reduced to one year for good behavior, so he should expect to be released from prison this time next year.
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