A judge has handed down an 8-year prison sentence for a man who carjacked a Lyft driver last year while awaiting trial for seven juvenile court cases. Otavion Miller, 19, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking with a weapon before receiving the sentence from Judge Sophia Atcherson, court records show.
The Lyft driver, a 45-year-old man from Palatine, was in the 5200 block of South Green when Miller pointed a gun at him and ordered him out of his car early on May 16, 2024, prosecutors said. Chicago police officers were told to look for three Black men wearing face masks in a white Kia Forte, and they quickly spotted a vehicle matching the description, a CPD report said.
According to the report, a police helicopter unit located the Kia, monitored it from above, and communicated its movements via radio to ground units. The chopper crew was watching as Miller left the vehicle in gear and bailed out in an alley, the report said. Officers arrested him nearby.
According to CPD, the cops found an unloaded pistol in the alley where Miller bailed out. It was allegedly equipped with an illegal aftermarket switch that could make it fire automatically, like a machine gun.
Officers also found a black ski mask, the victim’s credit card, and the victim’s wallet in front of the house next door to where Miller began running, the report said. The Lyft driver arrived at the scene and identified him as the person who pointed a gun at him and took his car.
The outcomes of the seven cases he had pending at the time of the hijacking are not available because juvenile records are shielded from public review.
Miller is expected to be paroled in April 2028, after serving a little less than half of his sentence, according to state records. State law gives a 50% good behavior discount for most crimes, including vehicular hijacking. He also earned 385 days of credit while in the county jail.
