18-year-old charged in fatal South Loop crash was going 75 mph, prosecutors say
CHICAGO (CBS) — An 18-year-old driver was charged in hit-and-run that left one man dead and six others hurt in the South Loop was driving 75 mph at the time of the crash on Michigan Avenue, according to Cook County prosecutors.
Kendall Sprouts is charged with reckless homicide and aggravated reckless driving after the deadly crash near 14th Street and Michigan Avenue.
At his bond hearing Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors said Sprouts was driving at about 75 mph, headed south on Michigan Avenue, when he crashed into a Hyundai Sonata that was trying to make a U-turn, after police had pulled over the Sonata for a traffic stop.
Sprouts had pulled into the left turn lane to try to get around a stopped police vehicle, and narrowly missed running over a police officer, when he hit the Sonata and an oncoming Jeep Compass, before crashing into several parked cars, according to prosecutors.
The Sonata flipped on its side, and its driver, 22-year-old Keyshawn Javon Gray, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Six other people, including Sprouts, were injured in the crash. A 13-year-old and 14-year-old were among the six injured.
The Sonata's front seat passenger, an 18-year-old woman, was treated at Northwestern for two broken ribs, a spinal fracture, a pulmonary contusion, a blunt cardiac contusion, a broken jaw, and hemorrhaging on her brain. She remained in the intensive care unit on Wednesday, prosecutors said.
The back seat passenger in the Sonata, and all three people in the Jeeep Compass were treated for minor injuries.
Sprouts also suffered minor injuries in the crash, and prosecutors said preliminary results from a DUI kit revealed he was not driving under the influence at the time of the crash.
His bail was set at $20,000, and he is due back in court on Dec. 12.