DUI charges upgraded against off-duty cop accused of critically injuring woman

An off-duty Chicago Police officer was ordered released on his own recognizance and placed on electronic monitoring Thursday for allegedly drunkenly crashing his Mercedes into a pedestrian and severely injuring her in Belmont Heights last month.

The woman, 21, is in the pediatric intensive care at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood where she has been placed into an induced coma, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said. She remains in critical condition.

It is unclear whether the woman, who suffered contusions and bleeding in her brain, will survive.

If she dies, charges will be upgraded once more against Chicago Police Officer Erin Mowry, Scaduto said at his bond hearing.

Mowry, 40, was initially issued a traffic ticket and charged with several misdemeanor counts of DUI for the incident on July 18. Charges against the father of three, however, were upgraded this week to felony aggravated DUI causing bodily harm. Mowry, who appeared in court in jeans and a dark hoodie, turned himself in Wednesday.

Mowry, a two-year CPD veteran, admitted he had been drinking before he slammed into the pedestrian who had just gotten off a CTA bus and was walking in the crosswalk at 1:30 a.m. that morning, Scaduto said.

The woman crossed in front of the bus at Belmont and Olcott when Mowry came up from behind the bus and hit her with the driver’s side of his luxury car, Scaduto said.

The woman was sent airborne from the impact of the crash. She hit her head on the pavement when she came back down, Scaduto said.

Mowry stayed at the scene of the accident, but he didn’t take a Breathalyzer test until four hours later, Scaduto said. His blood-alcohol level measured at .092 — more than the state’s legal .08 limit, Scaduto said.

Mowry was arrested for having an open container of alcohol in his car in 1997 but those charges were dismissed, Scaduto said. He also received a speeding ticket that year.

Mowry used to work as a deliveryman and sales representative at Superior Beverage, according to his defense attorney, Dan Herbert.

He was recently promoted to the narcotics division at work and is a member of the police department’s honor guard that is featured at funerals and wakes, Herbert said.

Mowry served in the Army in the 1990s and lives with wife and children, including 6-year-old twins.

Mowry, of the 3400 block of North Pittsburgh, has been relieved of his police powers pending the outcome of an investigation by the police Major Accidents Investigation Unit.