CHICAGO — State Comptroller Susana Mendoza wants crime surveillance footage she shot submitted as evidence for tougher charges against a man who plowed his pickup through a line of cars stopped in a Jefferson Park intersection, she told DNAinfo Monday.
On July 30, Mendoza was riding her bike on Austin Avenue with her husband and 4-year-old son when "all of a sudden this huge truck just plowed through the red light" at Gunnison Street "like he didn't even see it," Mendoza said.
A few blocks later, the comptroller and her family rolled up to Higgins Avenue to find that the same driver — who appeared "under the influence of something" — had launched his Ford Super Duty into a line of three cars, leaving one woman with a "gash" on her arm, Mendoza said.
She instantly whipped out her phone and started filming.
"I thought by taping him, I'd send a message that he had to stay put," Mendoza said.
But at the 2:10 mark in the video, the driver, identified as John Boyle, pushes his truck into another bystander, whose car had been damaged in the accident.
Mendoza yells, "Stop, you're hitting this guy!" but he speeds off through the intersection, as the bystander jumps into the back of the moving pickup.
After calling the police, Mendoza again recorded him walking into Mobil Mart, 5949 W. Higgins Ave., saying, "I'm keeping my eye on him, he's got to get arrested."
She then filmed him driving away from the scene as he swatted away her caution that "You'd better stay there. The cops are coming."
Boyle eventually turned himself into authorities, according to Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office.
Boyle previously was to sentenced to seven years in prison for stealing millions of dollars in small change from the Illinois State Toll Highway authority, earning him the nickname "Quarters."
He was charged last month with leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, failure to report a crash and operating an uninsured vehicle, Simonton said.
But Mendoza said her video is proof that Boyle deserves more than just a few traffic tickets.
The charges don't account for Boyle plowing into the bystander or turning left through oncoming traffic to make his escape, Mendoza said. Then there's the potential felony of claiming to be a police officer, which Boyle appears to do at the 3:45 mark in the video.
"I'm not the state's attorney, but as a citizen I'd hope they can look at this evidence and utilize it according to what the law says," Mendoza said.
Boyle is due back in court on Oct. 24, Simonton said.
