A Streamwood man used a dog to attack a taxi driver on the Near North Side and steal his cab before he sped away and got into a fatal crash with a 69-year-old woman, prosecutors said Friday.
Michael S. Jorgensen, 29, is charged with murder in the commission of a felony, aggravated driving under the influence causing death and vehicular hijacking, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.
Shortly before 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, a 21-year-old man who works as a taxi driver spotted Jorgensen walking a dog and acting suspiciously in a parking lot at 211 W. Walton St., prosecutors said.
The taxi driver alerted an employee of a restaurant where he had just dined and got back into his cab, prosecutors said. When Jorgensen was approached by the restaurant worker, Jorgensen “let his dog loose” on the restaurant worker, who then ran to the 21-year-old’s taxi and got inside.
Jorgensen followed and let the dog into the taxi, where it attacked the taxi driver, biting him on the neck and chest, prosecutors said. Jorgensen went to the driver’s side of the cab and dragged the 21-year-old out.
Jorgensen got inside the taxi and sped away, Chicago Police said.
Less than a half mile away, Jorgensen sped through a red light and slammed into a 69-year-old woman’s vehicle while she was making a left turn on a green light in the 600 block of West Chicago Avenue, authorities said.
The woman, identified as Perla Carandang of the Lincoln Park neighborhood, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office said.
Jorgensen was taken to a hospital for treatment in custody, according to a police report. He was identified by the taxi driver as the man who stole his car.
Police could not provide additional information Friday about what happened to the dog that was used in the attack.
Jorgensen had a blood alcohol level of 0.275 after the crash and also tested positive for cocaine and amphetamines, prosecutors said. The carjacking was captured on a surveillance camera inside the cab and the crash was recored by a police-operated POD camera.
Jorgensen is a U.S. Army veteran who served from 2009-2013, his attorney said. He was stationed in Korea at some point during his service. He was most recently working as a car salesman.
Jorgensen, who has a previous felony conviction on a 2012 charge of resisting a police officer, for which he was sentenced to 30 days at the Cook County Jail, was denied bond.
He was scheduled to return to court March 8.
