Darrick Bender, a 19-year-old felon who was already on bond for pointing a gun at a woman last month, shot another man’s pit bull puppy on Sunday night. He attempted to elude police but was apprehended. While fleeing cops, he flung a bag, which cops discovered contained (surprise!) a 9mm pistol with a 50-round magazine.
What did he lack? A FOID card or a CCW permit.
The icing on the cake for this story is that the suspect, Darrick Bender, was released under the “No Cash Bail” provisions of the new “SAFE-T” Act.
From CWB Chicago:
CHICAGO — A Cook County judge rejected a prosecutor’s request to jail a Chicago man who allegedly shot a dog as a threat to public safety on Monday. Instead, Judge Mary Marubio sent Darrick Bender, 19, home with a nighttime curfew and orders to stay away from the dog’s owners, court records show…
Prosecutors charged Bender with aggravated cruelty to animals, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and reckless discharge of a firearm endangering others. And they asked Judge Marubio to keep Bender in jail as a public safety threat, court records show.
Marubio nixed that idea. She released Bender with a curfew and told him to check in with the court’s pretrial services division and to stay away from the victims, according to the clerk of court’s file.
Last month, Chicago police arrested Bender on a different set of allegations. A 52-year-old woman told police that Bender pointed a gun at her, and a CPD surveillance camera operator saw him in possession of a firearm with an extended magazine, according to the August 17 arrest report.
Officers couldn’t find the gun he was accused of having. The report said Bender had a key fob in his pocket for a stolen BMW that was parked nearby.
Prosecutors charged him with possessing a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. They dropped the stolen vehicle charge one week later and dropped the aggravated assault charge on September 7, according to the court file.