'Negligent' Off-Duty Cop Drives Onto Sidewalk, Killing Woman: Police

CHICAGO — Police said an off-duty Chicago Police Department officer drove her SUV onto a downtown sidewalk early Thursday morning, striking two pedestrians, one fatally.

Around 12:30 a.m., the officer was driving south on State Street near the House of Blues — where the department had been holding a holiday party that night — when she reportedly swerved onto the sidewalk and toward pedestrians on a visit to Chicago.

The 40-year-old off-duty cop told officers investigating the crash that she took her eyes off the road because she was trying to grab her phone, which had fallen to the floor of her car, according to police.

"When [she] looked up, she believed she was going to strike the median in the center of the road and attempted to avoid it by veering to the right," police reported.

Maria Schwab, 56, of Schertz, Texas, was struck directly and knocked into the fence of the nearby Marina City complex. She was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to Chicago police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office, which ruled her death to have been an accident caused by multiple injuries from being struck by a motor vehicle.

A 27-year-old Texas woman was reportedly able to partially evade the off-duty cop's SUV as it barreled onto the sidewalk. She suffered minor injuries, including bruising around her knees and a laceration to her hand.

Images from the scene show heavy front-end damage to the officer's Infiniti QX60 SUV.

While the report indicates officers did not offer a blood-alcohol test to the driver at the scene of the crash, it says she was taken to Northwestern to have a blood sample taken.

The officer, who is not being named because she has not been charged with a crime, has been relieved of her police powers while the department's investigation continues, according to police sources.

As of Friday morning, she had been issued traffic citations for negligent driving, driving while using a cell phone, failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and failure to keep in lanes.

The Chicago Police Department had been throwing a holiday party at the nearby House of Blues ahead of the crash Wednesday night, according to social media posts and an employee at a nearby hotel, but it is not clear if the officer had attended.

So far in 2023, 27 pedestrians have been struck and killed by drivers within the city of Chicago, according to Streetsblog Chicago.

Schwab was visiting Chicago on a work trip for the educational company Amplify, which issued a statement after her death.

"The entire Amplify community is deeply saddened and grieving this sudden loss," it said. "We will do everything in our power to support this person’s family and all of our colleagues as we process this tragedy."