The man accused of murdering Chicago police officer Ella French and critically wounding her partner was out on bail on a serious hit and run, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The accused cop killer Emonte Morgan had been on probation for a robbery in Old Town at the time of the alleged hit and run, and a petition had been filed to find him in violation, which could have sent him to jail. But a hearing to resolve the issue had not been held yet.
A physician who witnessed the hit and run saw a man get hit by a van and the driver leave the scene, according to the paper.
“[The victim] was in bad shape, I mean that was just terrible head trauma,” the physician told the paper. “I was telling him not to move because if there was any kind of spinal cord damage, I didn’t want him to make it worse.”
Morgan was taken into custody a short time afterward.
He was charged with driving without a license, operating an uninsured vehicle and leaving the scene of an accident, according to police. The most serious charge was a misdemeanor, and Morgan was released from custody the next day on a personal recognizance bond.
Police did not ask prosecutors to consider felony charges in the hit-and-run, instead filing misdemeanor charges and citations directly and sending the case to Traffic Court, according to Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
