Patrick Bruce (Credit: Cook County Sheriff)
Reporting Brad Edwards
(CBS) — A family is devastated, and they say an Orland Park fire lieutenant is to blame.
On Friday night, Patrick Bruce of Oak Forest crashed into a car being driven by 25-year-old Anasis Knox of Downers Grove, who was out with her step-father shopping for a car.
She was killed. Bruce posted bail and was released on a $250,000 bond.
The victim — Anna, as she was known — was on her way to car shop on 167th. There, a vehicle swerved at 60 mph in a 35 mph zone.
“I had my head down, writing, figuring up some numbers on the price of a car, and all of a sudden I heard her say, ‘Oh,’” Hooper says.
Bruce wasn’t on duty. He hadn’t worked since suffering an injury last year responding to a call. He admitted to arresting officers he was on pain pills for the injury.
“We just want him to be prosecuted to the full extent of the law,” Tenika Knox-Johnson, the accident victim’s sister, said.
The family has already seen its share of tragedy. Their mother died of cancer six months ago.
“She was innocent. She didn’t do anything wrong, and she was young. She had her whole life to live,” Knox-Johnson said.
The lieutenant is still fully employed as a firefighter for the Orland Rire Protection District and will be until the department is officially notified of the charges.
