COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The armed man who carjacked a Dodge Durango in the South Loop last month was free on bond for a pending gun case at the time, prosecutors said Friday.
Phillip Smith, 25, is accused of carjacking a 2014 Dodge Durango about 3:30 a.m. April 11 in a "bump and run" attack in the 600 block of South Wabash Avenue, court records show.
Police believe Smith was armed with a silver handgun.
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At the time of the attack, he was free on bond for a pending 2016 gun case, court records show. Bail was set in that case at $75,000 in September; Smith posted $7,500 (the requisite 10 percent needed to go free) by December.
In that case, officers on patrol in Austin spotted Smith and another man drinking from Solo cups outside in the 5500 block of West Congress Parkway on Sep. 29, according to an arrest report.
Police believed the men were drinking alcohol in public and tried to question them, court records show. That's when Smith took off running and led police on a chase that ended when Smith was discovered under the back porch in a nearby yard, police said.
Smith was carrying a loaded semiautomatic Glock 17 that had been reported stolen in Lebanon, Ky., according to authorities.
Prosecutors charged Smith, of the 3900 block of West Flournoy Street, with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and possession of a firearm by a felon in the 2016 incident, court records show. He would post bond three months later.
Smith has a 2014 conviction for possession of a controlled substance.
In the new carjacking case, Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. on Friday set bail at $1 million.
