A man was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison this week after pleading guilty to plowing his vehicle into a group of people having a picnic in Chicago's Logan Square neighborhood in 2021.

At a hearing Wednesday, Timothy Nielsen was sentenced by Cook County Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer after pleading guilty to attempted murder in the incident on Saturday, May 1, 2021. A woman was left critically injured when Nielsen jumped the curb and went for the crowd with his pickup truck. 

Nielsen will receive credit for 999 days already served in jail.

Police said around 5:15 p.m. that May day, Nielsen intentionally jumped the curb with his vehicle, and drove at a group of people gathered for a picnic on the 2900 block of West Logan Boulevard.

Cook County prosecutors said a group of people had gathered in the grassy median on Logan Boulevard for a picnic to celebrate someone's birthday. Nielsen pulled up in his Ford F-150, stopped the truck near the group, and started complaining about the behavior of their dogs, prosecutors said.

After the group responded to Nielsen, he reversed the pickup truck, and then placed it in drive, accelerating as he plowed right toward the group, prosecutors said.

The pickup truck did not immediately jump the curb, so Nielsen accelerated again — this time clearing the curb — and kept plowing toward the group, driving over their personal property, prosecutors said.

He drove over bikes, chairs, and a Yeti cooler before he began striking people with the pickup truck, prosecutors said.

First, Nielsen struck a victim trying to flee, who suffered minor injuries and was treated on scene, prosecutors said. But then, he struck the woman who was left critically injured, and who had also tried to flee but ended up pinned under the truck, prosecutors said.

As Nielsen struck the woman, the group's Yeti cooler became lodged between the truck and the ground so that the truck could not get any father, prosecutors said. But Nielsen still kept accelerating and trying to drive over the woman who was already pinned under the truck, prosecutors said.

Police and paramedics came to the scene. The 42-year-old woman who was struck was seriously injured and was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center for treatment.

Meanwhile, Nielsen was arrested on the spot, prosecutors said.

Officers also spoke to a witness who was in the alley behind his home watering flowers, and who said Nielsen had pulled into the alley and approached him before the incident, prosecutors said. Nielsen asked the man how long he had lived in the neighborhood, and also complained about the "yuppies and their dogs in the park," prosecutors said.

He then told the witness, "Watch what I'm going to do," before plowing into the crowd, prosecutors said.

An update on how the woman who was critically injured in the incident was faring four and a half years later was not available.