Aug. 27--The man who ran a red light while fleeing police, killing a 66-year-old pedestrian and injuring four other people, was wanted for threatening his ex-girlfriend at gunpoint and breaking into her home, prosecutors said Thursday.
A warrant was issued for Paul Forbes, 26, after months of harassing the woman last year, prosecutors said Thursday during a court hearing, where he was ordered held without bond on murder charges from the accident.
The warrant was still active when police pulled over Forbes' Pontiac Bonneville for an unrelated traffic violation in the 7500 block of South St. Lawrence around 7:30 p.m. Monday, prosecutors said.
Forbes sped off as officers were getting out of their car and ran a red light at King Drive and 75th Street, just missing a CTA bus but striking several cars and hitting Willie Owens, 66, as he worked on his stalled pickup truck, prosecutors said.
Forbes was going 80 or 90 mph through the intersection, prosecutors said. He hit a Saturn SUV, sending it airborne and crashing into a fence, they said. The Pontiac then pinned Owens against his truck, severing his leg and pushing the pickup into a Chevrolet Cruze.
Forbes took off running but was arrested after a brief chase, prosecutors said.
Forbes, of the 10300 block of South Rhodes Avenue, was charged with murder, aggravated fleeing and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, all felonies. He was also charged with driving on a suspended license, a misdemeanor, disobeying a red light signal and driving without registration.
Before the accident, Forbes was facing home invasion and other charges stemming from several incidents with his ex-girlfriend, prosecutors disclosed.
The harassment began last summer when Forbes showed up at the woman's house, climbed on the hood of her car and kicked the windshield, they said. He allegedly threw bricks through two living room windows.
Four days later, Forbes pushed in the woman's air conditioning unit and tried to enter her home, prosecutors said. Four months later, on Nov. 13, he entered her home and pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the girlfriend, they said. He finally left the home.
