Bond Set At $500,000 Cash For Brett Dimick In August Hit-And-Run That Left Woman Dead Near Wrigley Field
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Bond was set at $500,000 cash Tuesday for a Chicago charged in an August hit-and-run that left one woman dead, and her friend injured.
Brett Dimick, 30, of the Old Town neighborhood, was taken into custody on Monday, four months after police say he was behind the wheel of a BMW that blew through a stop sign near Wrigley Field on Aug. 14.
Dimick is charged with three counts of reckless homicide, and one count of failure to report an accident involving death.
A cash bond, as was ordered for Dimick, means he must pay the full $500,000 to be released from custody, rather than a percentage.
In a proffer, an assistant Cook County State's Attorney said Dimick was driving west on Addison Street in the gold BMW X3 registered in his name, when he disobeyed the stop sign and made a left turn to head south on Fremont Street.
At the time, Sophie Allen, 27, and her friend, Nahiomy Alvarez, were walking side by side west on Addison Street. As they walked into the intersection with Fremont Street, they were struck on the sidewalk by Dimick in his BMW, prosecutors said.
Video from a Wyze cam captures the BMW barreling west down Addison Street, with its tires screeching as it plows through the stop sign and turns south onto Fremont Street.
The video surveillance does not capture the actual crash, prosecutors said.
Allen, who was visiting Chicago to celebrate a milestone in her breast cancer treatment and her future wedding, died a short time later at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
"There's something so incredibly tragic about who he killed. Sophie was an amazing human," Alvarez told CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov in September.
Alvarez herself was left injured with bruises and abrasions and was treated at the same hospital.
Meanwhile, Dimick struck a metal fence on the west side of Fremont Street just south of Addison Street, prosecutors said. At that point, he got out of the BMW, took off his sandals, and fled south on Fremont Street, prosecutors said.
Another man was in the BMW with Dimick as a passenger, prosecutors said. This man – who was not identified in the proffer – got out of the BMW and ran north toward Addison Street, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said a witness was delivering food at the time and heard the loud crash. He said he saw the driver of the BMW get out and run south toward him, and saw the passenger get out and run north.
Ring video from a nearby home captures the sound of tires screening and the crash at 12:35 p.m. that day, and also captures Dimick running south in Fremont Street past the witness, prosecutors said.
A second witness heard the crash and saw the man now identified as Dimick running south on Fremont Street in bare feet, prosecutors said. The witness chased after Dimick, but Dimick got away, prosecutors said.
Police recovered the sandals near the BMW, and were able to get DNA samples that were linked to Dimick, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also said a few seconds before the crash, Dimick was seen driving through a Shell gas station at the southwest corner of Halsted and Addison streets – one city block east of the hit-and-run scene.
Pod camera video showed the BMW heading south on Halsted Street, crossing Addison Street, and then turning abruptly to head westbound through the gas station, prosecutors said. As the BMW turned westbound onto Addison Street, it hit a white Jeep going in the opposite direction, prosecutors said.
The driver of the Jeep saw two men that matched the descriptions of Dimick and his passenger, prosecutors said.
Dimick surrendered to police at Area Three headquarters at Belmont and Western avenues on Monday.
Prosecutors said Dimick's license had been suspended since 2008, and revoked since 2009.
He also has prior convictions – including cannabis charges, a driving under the influence charges, an attempted resisting charge, and various traffic-related charges. The past charges are out of Cook, DuPage, Will, and McLean counties and go back as far as 2009, prosecutors said.
Weeks after the hit-and-run, Kozlov sat down with Alvarez, who said she was struggling with the fact an arrest hadn't been made at the time.
Alvarez said she would continue to put pressure on police until someone was held responsible.
"I want someone to tell me they're working on this, that they're not only working on this but they're prioritizing it, that it's top of their list and we're going to have some peace," she said.
The bond proffer did not address the time that elapsed between the hit-and-run and charges being filed against Dimick.
