Bail Set in Boy's Hit-and-Run Death

By Marcus Gilmer in News on May 25, 2009 2:40PM

Chicago Police officer Richard Bolling is being held on $2 million bond following an alleged DUI hit-and-run that killed 13-year-old Trenton Booker early Friday morning. According to witnesses, Bolling was at a bar near 55th and Indiana earlier in the evening. Booker, who family members say had sneaked out of his house to ride his bike with friends, was allegedly riding north in the southbound lane of Ashland while Bolling was traveling south. Bolling, who was off-duty, hit Booker at the intersection of 81st and Ashland around 1:30 a.m. Friday, and allegedly continued driving without stopping. According to the Sun-Times:

Patrol officers arrested Bolling a few blocks away when they noticed he was driving the wrong way on a one-way street in the 1900 block of West 82nd Street, authorities said. Inside Bolling's Dodge Charger, which sustained front-end and windshield damage, officers discovered an open bottle of beer, according to the state’s attorney’s office.

Bolling, a 17-year department veteran currently serving in a tactical narcotics unit, was also charged with leaving the scene of an accident where a death or injury occurred, driving in the wrong direction on a one-way street and transportation of alcohol, authorities said.

There was also a small controversy yesterday when Booker's family showed up at the courthouse at 26th and California for Bolling's supposed noon bond hearing only to learn that the hearing started earlier. [Tribune, Sun-Times]