A pair of teenage Chicago boys are facing misdemeanor charges after they stole a car and then crashed in to a family at an intersection, killing their six-month-old son.
The boys, aged 14 and 17, each face a single count of criminal trespassing over the incident, but police said those charges could be upgraded pending a further investigation into the crash.
At about 5pm on April 16, Police say the two boys were speeding down West Washington Road in a stolen Hyundai sedan when they tore through an intersection and collided with a pickup truck.
In the pickup was the infant Cristian Uvidia and her family. The baby was killed in the wreck, while her mother and two older sisters remain hospitalized from their injuries.
The tragedy was just the latest example of criminal chaos which has consumed Chicago in recent years under the watch of District Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office has dismissed thousands of violent felony cases since she was sworn in in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.
Six-month-old Cristian Uvidia was killed when a stolen car collided with his family’s truck
The stolen Hyundai moments before it slams into the Uvidia’s pickup truck in Chicago
Cristian’s family recalled the boy as being happy and full of life.
‘He always had this big smile on his face, he loved to sing and dance,’ cousin Analisse Rivera told WGN9.
‘It’s been a rough few days, it’s felt like ten years,’ she said. ‘This is like truly all of our worst nightmares.’
After the collision, neighbors rushed outside to pull Cristian out of the car and attempt CPR.
‘Unfortunately, he was brain dead, and then the next day he passed,’ Rivera said.
‘They stole a car, and they stole our entire lives in that one instant. I don’t know what the price of the car was, but I’m sure it wasn’t equivalent to the life of a child.’
‘Heaven has the most beautiful angel right now, and we know we’ll see him again one day,’ she said.
There were two others riding in the car with the 14 and 17 year old boys. Their identity is unknown, and it remains unclear if they will face any charges.
Pieces of the cars and chunks of wood from a tree where the cars landed during the collision
The tree that one of the cars slammed into after the violent fatal collision in Chicago
Overall crimes are up 47 percent, year on year, with robbery, sexual assault and theft surging.
Theft has risen by a remarkable 25 percent.
Murders and shootings are both down, however.
The complicated law and order situation was brought into sharp focus by wild events last weekend, when a crowd of more than a hundred rowdy teenagers turned violent in Downtown Chicago on Saturday night.
Dozens torched and smashed cars while blaring music in a ‘teen trend’ that left two with gunshot wounds.
Shocking footage showed some teenagers jumping on top of a bus while others started a massive brawl after descending on Millennium Park and attempting to breach barricades.
Gunshots rang out with some rounds striking two teenage boys aged 16 and 17.
The two youths were transported to a nearby hospital in fair condition. A total of 15 people, nine adults and six children were arrested.
Police said most of the charges were for reckless conduct, but a 16-year-old boy was also charged with unlawful use of a weapon, and a firearm was recovered. An adult and a juvenile were also charged with possession of a stolen vehicle.
Cars were also left vandalized near East Washington Street, including a Tesla.
The office of Chicago District Attorney Kim Foxx has dropped thousands of felony charges
Chicago politicians, many of whom are criticized for being notoriously soft on crime, wrote off the night of criminal misdeeds, saying it was a few bad eggs in a sea of revelers, or even a political demonstration.
Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot weighed in on the event, telling a local reporter that she thinks calling the weekend scene ‘mayhem’ is incorrect.
‘The mass majority of the young people who came downtown, came downtown because there was great weather and it was an opportunity to enjoy the city. That’s absolutely, entirely appropriate,’ said Lightfoot, defending the teens.
She added: ‘There are a few that came with different intentions. They have and they will be dealt with. But I’m not going to use your language, which I think is wrong, to say there’s ‘mayhem.”
Brandon Johnson, 47, said Sunday he does not ‘condone the destructive activity’ and that it’s ‘unacceptable and has no place’ in Chicago, but that it should not be used as a way to vilify the group.
‘However, it is not constructive to demonize youth who have otherwise been starved of opportunities in their own communities,’ said Johnson, a progressive Democrat.
Kim Foxx: A timeline of controversial incidents
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has been on the end of several controversies during her tenure.
Jussie Smollett allegations: A 68-page confidential report detailing missteps and multiple instances of false statements made by Foxx and her prosecutors in the initial investigation of Smollett was released in December 2021. The special prosecutor handling the report said that Foxx may have violated legal ethics but neither her nor anyone in her office did anything criminal.
Criticizing Smollett’s 150-day prison sentence: Foxx claimed Jussie Smollett’s 150-day jail term is ‘mob justice’ and an example of the system failing. Writing for The Chicago Sun Times, she called the case a ‘damaging, costly, and disingenuous criminal prosecution of Jussie Smollett’ and said that Smollett was presumed guilty from the beginning, ignoring whether or not he actually committed the crime that Judge James Linn said in his sentencing amounted to ‘astounding hypocrisy’.
Foxx gained notoriety in 2019 when she dropped felony charges against Jussie Smollett, the Empire actor convicted of staging a racist, homophobic attack on himself in January 2019
Donations from liberal billionaire George Soros: Soros, the most prolific Democratic donor, is most known for giving to Presidents Clinton and Obama but he has also been pumping money into a far-left effort to overhaul the criminal justice system by giving millions to a network of woke prosecutors in Democratic races. In 2020, Soros donated $2million to a PAC that backed Foxx in her re-election campaign.
Chicago crime rate: In 2021, there were more murders in Chicago than in any other year since 1994. There were more than 1,000 murders in Cook County, Foxx’s district, that year. Soros bolstered her re-election campaign by donating to the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC.