Man charged with reckless homicide, DUI in 2024 crash that killed 2 people outside CPD headquarters
A man has been charged with reckless homicide and driving under the influence in a crash that killed two people outside Chicago Police Headquarters in 2024.
Erick Garcia-Ambriz, 19, has been charged with two counts of reckless homicide and two counts of aggravated DUI.
Police said he was arrested Tuesday at his home in the Archer Heights neighborhood.
He was identified as the driver who ran a red light at the intersection of 35th Street and Michigan Avenue around 1:30 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2024, crashing his Infiniti into a silver sedan. Police said Garcia-Ambriz was intoxicated at the time of the crash.
The impact was so hard it sent debris flying up and down Michigan Avenue outside of Chicago Police Headquarters in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The silver sedan flipped onto its side, landing on the sidewalk. The impact sheared off one of its wheels.
Police said the 46-year-old man driving the sedan and the second victim, 39-year-old Shanika Smith, who was his passenger, were killed in the wreck. The car was a rideshare vehicle.
Garcia-Ambriz was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center in fair condition after the crash. He received three traffic citations two days after the crash, but the investigation remained open at the time, and he did not face felony charges until his arrest on Tuesday.
Smith's daughter, Shaundani Denton, spoke with CBS Chicago and said she will forever cherish her mother.
"We're left fixing the broken pieces that was taken from us because she was the glue to everybody," Denton said.
The crash left Denton and her then 8-year-old sister with a huge void in their lives
"He took my best friend. He took my mom, my backbone. He took my little sister's mother," she said.
She said her mom was the life of the party, and for more than a year, she wondered if the person responsible would ever be charged.
"I couldn't stomach the fact of him not being in jail and him, you know, out living life after he took two lives," she said
Now, with charges filed, Denton said she can relax her mind knowing the man responsible for her mother's death can't hurt anyone anymore.
As the case will play out in court, she wants everyone to know what drunk driving does to families.
"Please don't drink and drive, because not only can you hurt yourself, but you can hurt others," she said
Garcia-Ambriz is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing on the reckless homicide charges on Wednesday. Smith's family said they hope to be there to see the man who caused their pain face-to-face.
