Chicago boys aged 14 and 17 charged with MISDEMEANORS after stealing car and killing infant in wreck

A pair of Chicago teenage boys face felony charges after stealing a car and then crashing into a family home at an intersection, killing their six-month-old son.

The boys, aged 14 and 17, each face a single count of criminal misdemeanor charges from the incident, but police said those charges could be upgraded pending further investigation into the crash.

At about 5 p.m. on April 16, police said the two boys were traveling at high speed down West Washington Road in a stolen Hyundai sedan when they speeded through an intersection and collided with a pickup truck.

Baby Cristian Uvidia and her family were in the pickup. The baby died in the wreckage, while her mother and two older sisters remain in hospital from their injuries.

The tragedy was just the latest example of criminal chaos to engulf Chicago in recent years under the watch of District Attorney Kim Foxx, whose office has dismissed thousands of violent crime cases since she was sworn in in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.

Cristian’s family remembered that the boy was happy and full of life.

“He always had a big smile on his face, he loved to sing and dance,” cousin Analisse Rivera told me WGN9.

“It’s been a rough few days, it felt like ten years,” she said. “This is really all of our worst nightmares.”

After the collision, neighbors rushed outside to pull Cristian out of the car and resuscitate him.

“Unfortunately he was brain dead and passed away the next day,” Rivera said.

“They stole a car and in that one moment they stole our whole lives. I don’t know what the price of the car was, but I’m sure it didn’t equate to a child’s life.’

“Heaven has the most beautiful angel right now and we know we’ll see him again one day,” she said.

There were two others in the car with the 14- and 17-year-old boys. Their identities are unknown and it remains unclear whether they will be prosecuted.

Overall crimes are up 47 percent year over year, with robberies, assault and theft.

Theft has increased by no less than 25 percent.

However, homicides and shootings are both down.

The complicated law and order situation was brought into sharp focus last weekend by wild events when a mob of more than a hundred rowdy teens turned violent in downtown Chicago on Saturday night.

Dozens set cars on fire and vandalized them while blaring music in a “teenage trend” that saw two sustain gunshot wounds.

Shocking footage showed some teens jumping on top of a bus, while others started a mass brawl after descending Millennium Park and trying to breach barricades.

Gunshots rang out and several bullets hit two teenage boys, ages 16 and 17.

The two youths were transported to a nearby hospital in reasonable condition. A total of 15 people, nine adults and six children, were arrested.

Police said most of the charges were for reckless endangerment, but a 16-year-old boy was also charged with unlawful use of a weapon and a firearm was recovered. An adult and a youth were also charged with possession of a stolen vehicle.

Cars were also vandalized near East Washington Street, including a Tesla.

Chicago politicians, many of whom are criticized for being notoriously soft on crime, wrote off the night of criminal misdeeds, saying it was a few bad eggs in a sea of ​​revelers, or even a political rally.

Outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot weighed in on the event, telling a local reporter she thinks it’s inaccurate to call the weekend scene “chaos.”

‘The vast majority of young people who came to the center came to the center because the weather was nice and it was an opportunity to enjoy the city. That’s absolutely totally appropriate,” Lightfoot said in defense of the teens.

She added, “There are a few that came with different intentions. They have and they will be addressed. But I’m not going to use your language, which I think is wrong, to say there’s ‘chaos’.”

Brandon Johnson, 47, said on Sunday that he “does not condone the destructive activity” and that it is “unacceptable and has no place” in Chicago, but that it should not be used as a way to defame the group.

“However, it is not constructive to demonize young people who otherwise do not get opportunities in their own communities,” said Johnson, a progressive Democrat.