Oct. 07--Prosecutors have filed murder charges against a man accused of barreling into a family's SUV while fleeing police in a stolen vehicle on Chicago's South Side days before Christmas in 2013, killing an 11-year-old boy.
Rockie Douglas was captured in Wisconsin days after the death of Donovan Turnage. Since his arrest, Douglas has been behind bars in that state, where he's been convicted of several crimes.
Douglas, 36, was extradited to Illinois and arrived Tuesday to face charges of murder, aggravated vehicular hijacking and robbery, said Sally Daly, a spokeswoman for Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez. He is expected in bond court Wednesday.
Douglas, who grew up in Lake County, has a criminal record on both sides of the state line, and a Tribune investigation last year revealed that he was free on the day of the fatal car accident after slipping through gaps in monitoring and communication between authorities in Wisconsin and Illinois.
He misled probation officials in Wisconsin, records show, and accrued arrests and convictions and even spent four months in Cook County's residential boot camp without Wisconsin authorities learning of his continued legal troubles, which might have triggered the revocation of his probation in that state. Probation experts criticized both Wisconsin and Cook County authorities for failing to track him more closely.
Sheldon Sorosky, an attorney for Douglas, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. He said previously that Douglas has struggled with drug addiction.
On Dec. 21, 2013, police were pursuing Douglas in an allegedly stolen vehicle just as Donovan, his father and brother were driving to get haircuts in time for Christmas, authorities said at the time. The vehicle plowed into the family's GMC Yukon at Halsted Street and Garfield Boulevard, authorities said at the time, tossing Donovan to the curb, authorities said.
Douglas then stole another car and escaped after driving the wrong way on the Dan Ryan Expressway, authorities said. Police caught him days later in Milwaukee.
Douglas' probation was revoked and he was sentenced to prison in Wisconsin, where he has convictions for burglary, among other crimes, according to court records. It is unclear exactly when he'll finish serving his sentences in Wisconsin, but court records indicate he has several more years to serve in prison for those cases.
dhinkel@tribpub.com
