Off-duty Chicago cop charged with reckless homicide, DUI after crash kills woman

CHICAGO (Fox 32/Sun-Times Media Wire) - An off-duty Chicago police officer is charged with reckless homicide and DUI after he allegedly crashed his car at over 70 mph into a building in Gresham and killed a woman, prosecutors said.

Terrance Finley, 24, was ordered held Tuesday in lieu of a $40,000 bail by Cook County Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr.

Finley bonded out of jail Tuesday evening.

Finley was speeding in his Toyota sedan early Sunday in the 1700 block of West 87th Street when tried to turn left onto Wood Street, Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday at a bail hearing.

Another vehicle tried to turn left onto Wood at the same time and cut the Toyota off, prosecutors said. Finley, trying to avoid the other vehicle, made a sharp turn, jumped the curb, plowed through a building and hit two women, Chicago police said.

Marquita N. Reed -- who is 35 years old, a registered nurse and mother of two -- was pinned under the car and later pronounced dead at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said. An autopsy Monday found she died of multiple injuries caused by a vehicle striking a pedestrian and her death was ruled an accident.

The second woman -- who is also 35 and Reed's friend -- suffered a leg injury, police said. She was taken to the same hospital in good condition.

Finley injured his neck and was also taken to Christ Medical Center where his condition was stabilized, police said. The driver of the other vehicle did not stop, and its whereabouts are unknown.

Finley was also charged with misdemeanor DUI and a traffic citation. He is due again in court again on July 3.

"I expect our officers to adhere to a higher standard. I really do. When they don't then they'll be held accountable for it,” Police Supt. Eddie Johnson said.

Reed’s family says right now their focus is on her two children -- a 13-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl.

"Basically she worked all the time and took care of her kids. That's all she did,” said Reed’s aunt Lolita Gray.

The officer has been on the job for at least two years and has a salary of $67,000.