Cop Who Crashed Into Pedestrian Charged With DUI

By Emma G. Gallegos in News on Aug 6, 2015 5:00PM

A Chicago police officer has been charged with a felony DUI after he crashed into and critically injured a 29-year-old pedestrian in Belmont Heights last month, authorities said today.

Erin Mowry, 40, of the Northwest Side, has been charged with aggravated DUI with great bodily harm, a Cook County state's attorney spokeswoman told the Chicago Tribune.

The crash happened at 1:20 a.m. on July 18 in Belmont Heights. Mowry was off-duty and driving a 1997 Mercedes when he crashed into a woman crossing the street in the 7500 block of West Belmont Avenue. The injured woman was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. He was relieved of his police powers five hours after the crash, pending an investigation by the department's Major Accident Investigation Unit, authorities said.

Initially, the two-year veteran of the department was charged with two misdemeanor counts of DUI and a traffic ticket, the Chicago Sun-Times reports/a>. Mowry turned himself in Wednesday night for the upgraded felony charge. He's scheduled for a bond hearing Thursday afternoon at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.