Off-duty cop charged in deadly DUI was driving 73-75 mph before crash: prosecutors

A car driven by an off-duty police officer crashed into this Gresham restaurant early on Sunday, June 9, 2019, killing one woman and injuring another.

The off-duty Chicago police officer charged in a deadly DUI accident over the weekend was speeding between 73 to 75 mph before he slammed into a South Side restaurant, killing a 35-year-old woman inside, Cook County prosecutors said Tuesday.

Marquita N. Reed, 35, was waiting for her food to be prepared at Tony’s Philly Steak restaurant early Sunday morning when Terrance Finley allegedly swerved his Toyota Corolla to avoid a car that was turning in front of him, jumped the southeast curb at 80th and Wood, and crashed into the business.

Customers inside the restaurant described the crash “as if a bomb went off,” Assistant States Attorney James Murphy said during 24-year-old Finley’s bond hearing. Reed was pinned under the vehicle and later died. Two others were struck by Finley’s Corolla and were injured.

Finley was ordered held in lieu of $40,000 bail. Defense attorney Tim Grace said he expected Finley to post bond and be released later Tuesday.

Fraternal Order of Police Attorney Tim Grace speaks with media after the initial hearing for 24-year-old Chicago police Officer Terrance Finley on Tuesday, June 11, 2019 at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Just before the 2:40 a.m. crash, Finley was attending a birthday party with friends near 80th and Troy streets where he had been drinking, Murphy said. Blood drawn while Finley was being treated at Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn showed he had a blood alcohol level of 0.083 — just barely over the 0.08 legal limit.

Murphy told the Chicago Sun-Times that Finley’s blood was drawn “soon after” the crash and that Finley was taken directly to the hospital.

Terrance Finley

It wasn’t the first time Finley was caught speeding, Murphy said. Since becoming a police officer in 2017, Finley has received tickets for texting while driving and speeding. In the speeding case, for which Finley received supervision last year, he was driving 49 mph in a 25-mph zone, Murphy said.

Judge John Fitzgerald Lyke Jr. called the crash “a tragedy on both sides.”

Grace, an attorney for the Fraternal Order of Police, said Finley graduated from Western Illinois University, where he ran track. Finley’s mother works as an ophthalmologist and his father is a surgical nurse, Grace said.

Grace told reporters Finley — who has been stripped of his police powers — is well liked by his colleagues and works in the Grand Crossing District. Finley would be allowed to retain his license to own a gun while the case continues, Lyke said.

Grace said Finley was “mortified” and “didn’t become a police officer to take a life,” his attorney Tim Grace said.

Prosecutors did not say whether police have located the vehicle that had turned in front of Finley’s car before the crash. Grace said he also didn’t know if police had found the car.

The restaurant’s waiting area had been packed just two minutes before the crash.

“Two minutes before the crash, there were about 12 customers in there, then most of them left, including a group of about six,” Tawfik Damra, owner of Tony’s Philly Steak, 1757 W. 87th St., told the Chicago Sun-Times Monday.

“Thank God they were out of the store,” said Damra, who reviewed security footage of the crash that he shared with police.

Finley was scheduled to return to court on July 3.