A 20-year-old Burbank man is accused of nearly running over a Chicago police officer while fleeing an illegal car sideshow in Grant Park early Sunday, prompting the officer to fire one shot at the vehicle. No one was shot, but the officer suffered a rolled ankle after falling during the incident, according to police. Footage recorded by passengers in the car is now being used as evidence against the driver.
Alexander Zavala is charged with felony aggravated assault with a motor vehicle and misdemeanor mob action. Judge James Murphy III granted the state’s petition to detain him.
The incident unfolded at about 3:02 a.m. Sunday as cops responded to a large gathering of cars that had taken over the intersection of Columbus Drive and Balbo Drive. According to prosecutors, someone in the crowd had opened a fire hydrant while drivers performed donuts and other reckless maneuvers in the street.
Zavala was allegedly driving a black Chrysler 300 owned by his front-seat passenger while two other people were in the back. All four occupants were wearing masks, according to a detention filing.
The officers arrived in a marked Chicago police vehicle and began deploying spike strips on eastbound Balbo Drive just east of Columbus Drive as drivers tried to flee.
Prosecutors said the Chrysler’s owner, who had been standing outside the passenger side of the car and recording the police activity on his cellphone, got into the passenger seat and told Zavala, in substance, that police were “spiking people” before telling him to drive. He then dropped the phone, causing the video to go dark, but it continued recording audio.
Zavala drove eastbound on Balbo toward an officer who was deploying the spike strips, prosecutors said. As Zavala approached, the officer threw the strip into the center of the lane. The audio recording captured the passenger yelling, “They’re gonna spike you!” and “You can’t brake!”
Zavala then suddenly turned the Chrysler to avoid the spike strip and drove directly toward the officer, according to prosecutors. The officer pulled his gun and fired once at the Chrysler, striking the top center of the hood. None of the occupants was hit. The officer fell to the ground and suffered a rolled ankle. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Zavala continued eastbound on Balbo without stopping, according to prosecutors, who said audio recorded on a phone inside the car captured people saying, “go left,” “watch out,” “run,” and “they shot the tire.” The Chrysler headed onto Lake Shore Drive and then entered the outbound Dan Ryan Expressway at a slow speed until Zavala exited near 35th Street, where officers stopped the vehicle and detained all of the car’s occupants.
All three passengers identified Zavala as the driver during recorded interviews, prosecutors said. Investigators also recovered video from another passenger’s cellphone showing Zavala driving the Chrysler before and after the encounter with the officer, according to the detention filing.
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