Derrick Swanson escaped through a window when officers tried to arrest him on a murder warrant Thursday.
But his freedom lasted only a few seconds.
Swanson — who was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet in connection with a 2018 criminal case — fell six stories from his South Side apartment onto a concrete sidewalk, officials say.
Now he’s in a hospital with serious internal injuries and broken bones.
Swanson, 22, is charged in federal court with committing a murder in aid of racketeering and illegally possessing a 9mm handgun.
He’s accused of shooting 27-year-old Anthony Carter in the head on Oct. 2, 2018, at a Falcon Fuel gas station in the 800 block of East 79th in order to get promoted in a gang called the Evans Mob. Carter had two daughters.
Anthony Carter. | Facebook.
The Chicago police and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were involved in Swanson’s arrest.
He had been free on bond in a separate Cook County criminal case, court records show.
Swanson was arrested on Oct. 11, 2018 — nine days after Carter was killed — on unrelated charges of assaulting police officers and illegal gun possession.
Chicago police officers were driving in a patrol vehicle that day when they saw Swanson walking on South Cottage Grove Avenue clutching his waistband like he was holding a gun, a police report said.
They stopped Swanson and found a small amount of marijuana on him. He ran, was caught then fought the officers in the patrol vehicle after he was handcuffed — biting and kicking them, the report said.
Later in the Cook County Jail, Swanson made a telephone call to someone about where to find a gun that he tossed during the foot chase, according to the police report. Authorities monitor calls in the jail.
Police recovered the weapon — a 9mm Beretta 92F semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number. The same gun was used in Carter’s killing, according to the federal indictment against Swanson.
Swanson’s criminal record includes a 2015 felony conviction for illegal gun possession, court records show. He allegedly held a woman at gunpoint in a Rodeway Inn in Skokie. He was sentenced to two years in state prison.
