Off-duty police officer crashes into restaurant, kills woman while allegedly driving drunk
An off-duty police officer lost control of his vehicle while allegedly driving drunk and plowed into a restaurant in Chicago early Sunday, killing a woman who was dining inside.
The off-duty officer was driving on 87th Street on Chicago's South Side when he swerved to avoid another car, jumped a curb and drove through the front of Tony's Philly Steak restaurant, police said.
A 34-year-old woman who was eating inside the restaurant with a friend was trapped under the vehicle. She was taken to Christ Medical Center and later pronounced dead, according to police.
Friends identified the woman as Marquita Reed, a nurse and mother of two, according to Chicago ABC station WLS.
The officer, whose name has not been released, had a blood alcohol level 0.083 and was charged with driving under the influence, police said. The legal limit in Illinois is 0.08.
He has not yet been charged with any other offenses.
"We'll keep investigating and when the time comes, he will be held responsible for his actions," Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson said when asked about the incident at an unrelated press conference Sunday.
The suspect suffered a neck injury in the accident. He is 24 years old and has worked for the Chicago police for three years.
Reed's friend suffered a broken leg in the crash, according to WLS.
"Before the crash happened there were a lot of customers in the store, but at the time of the crash there were three people in the store," restaurant owner Tawfik Damra told WLS.
The police officer was driving his personal car at the time.
The other vehicle that swerved in front of the off-duty officer did not stop and has not been found, police said.
