(This story was updated to add new information.)
PEORIA — A pair of 18-year-old men accused of leading police on a high-speed chase through the city Tuesday morning will be held at the Peoria County Jail before their trials on a litany of charges after requests to deny them pre-trial release were approved Thursday in Peoria County Circuit Court.
Daviere L. Dillard and Quinzell Foy were each denied pre-trial release Thursday after a high-speed car chase that also involved four other teenagers. In both cases, Peoria County Circuit Judge Vincent Cail said that there were no conditions that could mitigate the threat to the safety of the community, as the group “terrorized” people across the city for much of the morning.
Those arrested are accused of also leading police on a high-speed car chase while objects, including a dumbbell, were thrown out the window toward police.
Dillard was charged with attempted murder along with robbery, unlawful possession of a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated fleeing and eluding police officers. Foy was charged with one count of robbery.
The four teenagers – one 16-year-old, two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old – also had several felony charges placed on them, with the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office saying that a motion would be filed to transfer them to adult court.
What happened in violent Peoria car chase?
At Thursday’s hearing, Peoria County Assistant State’s Attorney Terry Muench said that at 6:25 a.m., police received a report of a stolen vehicle on North Avon Curve, later revealed to be a black Jeep.
Shortly after, a masked group of six teenagers attacked a 15-year-old in the East Bluff, punching, kicking and stomping him while recording the beating on a cellphone. The attack, which was behind a BP gas station at the intersection of Knoxville and Archer avenues, rendered the victim unconscious, and the teen had to be hospitalized. The victim’s cellphone and jacket were also stolen.
Video footage of the beating was shown during Thursday’s hearing, with the group asking the 15-year-old for his password to the phone while taunting him as all this was going on.
The group later drove the stolen Jeep to Peoria High School around 6:46 a.m. where they did donuts in the school parking lot and drove onto the school lawn, where a 14-year-old was nearly hit after he got off the bus. Muench said that other witnesses, including a school bus driver, echoed the student’s account of the proceedings.
At 7:23 a.m., the group of six arrived at Richwoods High School and pulled the same stunt, driving onto the school lawn while students were present. The vehicle accelerated at students multiple times while doing donuts before leaving the grounds.
In the intervening period, Muench said that the black Jeep crossed paths with a red sedan, where a man in gray sweatpants – who prosecutors said was Foy – hopped into the car.
The group then led police on a pursuit around the city that was captured on dash camera video shown to the court Thursday. The vehicle drove at a high rate of speed while school buses and other vehicles were on the road, with other vehicles forced to swerve to avoid a collision.
Eventually, police were able to deploy spike strips at the intersection of Main and University streets. The six in the Jeep were briefly hospitalized before being ultimately arrested. Dillard was found with a tan jacket, while Foy had the gray sweatpants on, prosecutors said.
Muench said that because Dillard was shown on video beating and robbing someone, driving recklessly toward multiple people and endangering the entire city of Peoria, trying to run someone over, had passengers throwing things at police vehicles and was driving at a high rate of speed through the city, he was a threat to others that could not be controlled by any kind of conditions.
According to Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos, the stolen Jeep topped 70 mph seven times during the chase, exceeded 80 mph three times and 90 mph once.
Muench also said that due to Dillard driving, he was fortunate not to have been charged with actual murder for killing someone.
In Foy’s case, Muench said that he had recorded the proceedings of beating and robbing the 15-year-old and continued on to Peoria High and Richwoods before joining the others in the black Jeep for the high-speed chase. While he didn’t drive the vehicle, Muench said it didn’t change the fact that he was a risk to the entire community.
Peoria County Assistant Public Defender Jonathan McEldowney argued that both didn’t have any kind of adult criminal history and were young enough to be placed on conditions.
According to Muench, Dillard did have a large number of juvenile crimes, particularly several instances of stolen motor vehicles, and was on probation for other offenses across the area. Peoria police chief Eric Echevarria said Wednesday that Dillard had 21 arrests for 36 separate offenses as a juvenile in Peoria County.
Foy has a pending misdemeanor criminal trespassing case in McLean County.
‘Adult time’ for an ‘adult crime’
Hoos said Wednesday the teens will be facing “adult time” after committing what she called “adult crimes.”
“To individuals who want to steal cars, rob people, try to run them over, and wreak havoc on our streets, understand this, we will do everything in our power to remove you from those streets. Commit adult crimes, and you can have adult time,” Hoos said in a statement.
Criminal backgrounds belonging to some of the teens drew the ire of Echevarria, who has long called for changes to the juvenile criminal justice system.
One of the 15-year-olds had eight prior arrests on 15 offenses, while the 13-year-old had six prior arrests on 18 offenses before Tuesday, Echevarria said.
The four juveniles were ordered to remain in custody at the Peoria County Juvenile Detention Center and prosecutors filed a motion to have them transferred to adult court.
Charges came on the same day Echevarria harshly criticized the justice system for allowing repeat juvenile offenders to escalate their offenses into violence. Echevarria was appreciative of the strong charges and statement Hoos’ office put out.
“These charges reflect the gravity of what occurred from the attempted vehicular assault of a student near Peoria Central High School, to the brutal attack and robbery of a young victim in the East Bluff, to the dangerous high-speed flight that put countless motorists at risk during morning rush hour,” Echevarria said in a statement Wednesday after Hoos released a statement on the case via social media.
Police said the group antagonized officers during the chase by ramming squad cars, swerving into officers and throwing weights at police vehicles. The violent nature of the chase prompted Echevarria to implement the department’s pursuit policy to put an end to the chaos.
“If they’re antagonizing us, trying to ram our squad cars and throw weights at our officers who come in here every day and leave their families behind to protect the community, a decision had to be made in that moment,” Echevarria said at a press conference Wednesday. “When I heard that, I said, ‘Absolutely not.’ We need to get vehicles in that area and we need to get that vehicle stopped.”
Judge rules in favor of state on detention
Cail said that Dillard had been terrorizing the community while people were going to work and school, robbing a child and taking his property before leading police on a high-speed chase through the city.
He said that his actions showed a lack of regard for not just his safety, but those of the passengers in the vehicle and the community at large.
As for Foy, Cail said that he and the others in the group singled out the 15-year-old, kicking, punching and mocking him before robbing him of his belongings. He said that there were moments where Foy could have walked away from the scene, but didn’t and joined the group in threatening the community.
Both Dillard and Foy are set for arraignment on March 12 at 9 a.m., with Circuit Judge Sean Donohue presiding over the proceedings.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Peoria judge: 2 men who ‘terrorized’ city with chase to remain in jail
Reporting by JJ Bullock and Zach Roth, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
