MILLION-DOLLAR BAIL FOR MAN CHARGED IN BOY’S DEATH
5 The suspect in a series of carjackings — including one that led to the death of an 11-year-old South Side boy— was ordered held on $1 million bail.
Rockie Douglas, 36, was extradited from Wisconsin to Chicago to face criminal charges of murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking with a weapon, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. He was in court at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Wednesday.
A security guard and two Chicago Police officers saw Douglas in a popular drug spot near 50th and Princeton on Dec. 21, 2013, Cook County prosecutors said.
The officers briefly spoke with Douglas and asked him to step out of his vehicle. That’s when Douglas allegedly took off, Assistant State’s Attorney Todd Kleist said.
The car Douglas was driving had been taken in a carjacking the day before, Kleist said.
Douglas, of north suburban Beach Park, had stolen a 60-year-old woman’s car in the 800 block of West Irving Park Road, authorities said at the time.
While leading police on a chase with that stolen car, Douglas ran a red light at the intersection of Garfield and Halsted and crashed into a Chevrolet Suburban that was occupied by 11-year-old Donovan Turnage and his family, prosecutors said.
Turnage and his loved ones were on their way to get haircuts for Christmas.
Donovan, a fifth-grader at Morrill Math and Science School, was taken to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, where he later died, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
Douglas went to a nearby gas station and carjacked another motorist at gunpoint after the deadly wreck, Kleist said.
Douglas pushed the motorist away and accelerated as the motorist tried holding onto his car, Kleist said.
Douglas then went to a Jewel parking lot in Oak Lawn where he drove up to a 52-year-old woman walking to her car and pulled her purse off her shoulder, Kleist said. He drove off with the purse, which had the woman’s credit cards, ID and $400, Kleist said.
Douglas then went to DuPage County where he allegedly committed one other robbery and carjacking.
Days later, on Christmas Eve, Douglas was nabbed in a McDonald’s drive-thru in Milwaukee and was held in the county jail until Tuesday.
At the time of his arrest, he was serving a sevenyear probation sentence for burglary in Wisconsin, authorities previously said.
Douglas was identified by the Chicago Police officers who asked him to stop, the security guard and the motorist whose car was taken at the gas station, Kleist said.