COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The woman who shot a Chicago police officer in his chest May 12 was free on bond for a pending police battery case at the time, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Deangela Eaton, 25, is accused of firing a 9 mm Ruger handgun at a 34-year-old officer who tried to stop her following a suspected drug deal in the 4600 block of West Maypole Avenue about 2:25 p.m.
The officer was shot in his bulletproof vest and survived.
He and his partner, 32, returned fire — shooting Eaton several times, Assistant State's Attorney Joseph Carlson said during a bond hearing Tuesday.
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Eaton, who was hospitalized for two weeks after the West Side shootout, appeared at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 2650 S. California Ave. Tuesday, where Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. called the woman "a danger to the community" before denying her bail.
According to prosecutors and court records, Eaton was previously arrested in February for aggravated assault of a police officer and released on $5,000 bail.
In that case, Carlson said, Eaton told a Chicago police officer responding to a disturbance, "Motherf-----, I'll kill yous. I ain't going nowhere."
Eaton was free on bond for that case, which is still pending, when the May 12 incident occurred.
According to prosecutors, in the May incident, two plainclothes officers spotted Eaton involved in two drug deals.
The officers, who wore duty belts and police vests, were in an unmarked Ford Explorer at the time, Carlson said.
After the second drug deal, the 34-year-old officer exited the SUV and tried to talk to Eaton, prosecutors said.
She walked away, telling police, "They didn't want to mess with her," Carlson said.
At that point, Eaton began to run eastbound, according to authorities. She soon pulled a gun from her right side, turned around and fired at the 34-year-old officer, who'd been running after her, Carlson said.
The officer was shot in his chest, near his heart; his vest stopped the bullet.
That's when the 34-year-old officer and his partner, who'd been driving alongside the chase in the Ford Explorer, both opened fire and shot Eaton several times, authorities said.
She fell to the ground, and police recovered a gun with four live rounds and one spent casing jammed in the slide lock, according to Carlson.
The officer who'd been shot in his vest was treated and released from Loyola University Medical Center, where doctors took an X-ray of his chest, authorities said.
Eaton, of the 200 block of North Kenneth Avenue, is charged with attempted first-degree murder of a police officer, aggravated battery, aggravated assault and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
