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Drunken Driver Rolled SUV, Killed Panhandler on North Ave., Prosecutors Say

By Erin Meyer | June 3, 2014 2:01pm
 Charles Jones, a 73-year-old panhandler from Valparaiso, Indiana, was killed Sunday night after a car struck him in West Town. The alleged driver, 26-year-old Manuel Guerrero-Lopez, was charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death.
Charles Jones, a 73-year-old panhandler from Valparaiso, Indiana, was killed Sunday night after a car struck him in West Town. The alleged driver, 26-year-old Manuel Guerrero-Lopez, was charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death.
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DNAinfo/Erica Demarest

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man was drinking and driving when he ran a red light on North Avenue near the Kennedy Expy., then crashed and rolled his SUV, striking and killing a panhandler in the street early Sunday, prosecutors said.

Manuel Guerrero-Lopez, 26, was charged with aggravated DUI resulting in death after causing the gruesome scene early Sunday morning, prosecutors said.

He was driving west near 1510 W. North Ave. in a 2004 Volkswagen Touareg at 6:30 a.m. when he ran a red light just east of Ashland and near the entrance ramp to the Kennedy Expy., prosecutors said.

Guerrero-Lopez then crashed into a Camry waiting at the light, prosecutors said.

The SUV flipped on its side and slid into Charles Jones, who was panhandling in the street at the time, prosecutors said. Jones, 73, from Valparaiso, Indiana, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police said Guerrero-Lopez climbed out of the driver's side window of the SUV. He was unable to take a field sobriety test, but blood taken at the hospital less than an hour after the crash showed Guerrero-Lopez's blood alcohol level to be .16, prosecutors said.

A Cook County judge ordered Guerrero-Lopez held on $250,000 bail Tuesday.