Steve Schmadeke
Chicago Tribune
COOK COUNTY — A Little Village man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Friday to striking and killing a correctional officer outside Cook County Jail while driving on a revoked license in July 2012, court records show.
Nikkii Bostic-Jones, 38, was reporting for her night shift at the jail when she was hit by a van while crossing California Avenue near the jail’s employee entrance just south of 29th Street. She was flung into the path of a sheriff’s squad car and struck again, prosecutors said.
According to court records, Juan Bello, 59, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of a fatal crash. Judge Arthur Hill imposed the 10-year term on Bello, who has been in jail since his arrest soon after the fatality.
“He’s a hardworking guy. ... He wants to get this behind him,” his attorney Damon Cheronis said. “Our condolences go out to the (Bostic-Jones) family.”
Prosecutors said at the time of Bostic-Jones’ death that the van didn’t stop. Investigators used a partial license plate number to identify the vehicle and found it parked near Bello’s home not far from the jail in the 2900 block of West 25th Street.
Bello told police he drove his van on California that night and admitted that he had hit “something,” prosecutors said. Police talked to someone who also told them he had seen Bello drinking alcohol before the crash, they said.
A witness identified Bello in a police lineup as the driver of the van that struck Bostic-Jones at around 11 p.m.
Illinois secretary of state records show Bello’s driver’s license was revoked in 2010 after he was found guilty of drunken driving in Iowa.
Bello also was convicted of DUI after a 2002 traffic stop in LaSalle County, court records show. He received court supervision and his license was returned to him the next year.
In addition to the drunken-driving convictions, Bello has been found guilty in Cook County of numerous traffic violations, including speeding, running a red light and driving with an expired registration, records show.
The county added pedestrian safety improvements to the streets outside the jail and the nearby Leighton Criminal Court Building after the fatal hit-and-run.