A motorist ran a red light and was traveling at a high speed with an infant in the car when he was sideswiped, causing him to lose control and slam into a woman waiting at a bus stop on the South Side, Cook County prosecutors said Monday.
Amari Brown was driving 63 mph without a driver’s license seconds before the back end of his car was hit by a vehicle going through a green light in the 8000 block of South Racine Ave., prosecutors said.
When he was hit that morning on Sept. 28, Brown was allegedly traveling around 51 mph.
The collision caused Brown’s car to spin onto the sidewalk before he struck 52-year-old Malinda Massey and later ran into a business, according to Chicago police and the Chicago Fire Department.
Amari Brown
Chicago Police Department
Brown waited at the scene for emergency personnel to arrive and made admissions to driving the car, prosecutors said.
Massey was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
The driver who hit Brown was taken to the hospital for a broken arm, police had said. The 3-month-old child who was in Brown’s car was also hospitalized, fire officials said at the time. But the prosecutors’ proffer read in court Monday did not mention that the baby was injured in the crash. The proffer also did not mention the other motorist’s injuries.
A POD camera and liquor store surveillance video captured the fatal collision, prosecutors said.
Brown, who was arrested Sunday, was ordered held on $80,000 bail for reckless homicide. If Brown is able to post bail, he will be barred from driving while he awaits trial, a judge ordered.
Brown is expected back in court Jan. 24.
