DECATUR — Jekhi T. Oneal, who rammed his way free of a police stop before fleeing at high speed while his teenage female passenger allegedly tossed a submachine gun out the car window, has been parked in prison for two years.
The plea was part of a deal negotiated by defense attorney Courtney Anderson that saw Judge Rodney Forbes agree to dismiss a class X felony charge of armed violence. The judge also dismissed two counts of aggravated fleeing and a charge of possession of a firearm while FOID card revoked.
A sworn affidavit said members of the Decatur Police Department’s Community Action Team, which targets gun crimes, encountered Oneal on the afternoon of Jan. 29 when they tried to pull his Ford Fusion car over for a traffic stop in the 300 block of West Grand Avenue.
“The driver of the Ford then put the vehicle in reverse and struck our squad car, which was directly behind the Ford,” said Officer Salvador Ruiz, who signed the affidavit.
“The Ford then accelerated out of a parking lot and drove eastbound on Grand Avenue at a high rate of speed.” Ruiz said those speeds hit 65 mph on city streets before Oneal lost control and plowed into a fence in the 1200 block of East Garfield Avenue. The defendant tried continuing to flee on foot but was soon chased down and arrested.
The cops also took Danaija A. Weaver, 18, into custody at the scene and accused her of tossing a Glock .40 caliber handgun out the car window during the chase. Ruiz said the gun was fitted with an extended magazine and modified to make it fully automatic.
Weaver is free on pretrial release and due back in court for a pretrial hearing May 1.
Oneal appeared in court for his sentencing April 5. Judge Forbes also sentenced him to an additional two months in prison after the defendant pleaded guilty to the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in an unrelated case. But Forbes ordered that short sentence to run concurrent with the two-year prison term.
2023 mugshots from the Herald & Review
Lourash
Hirstein
Phillip Gehrken
Joseph A. Williams
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Colby J. Park
Contact Tony Reid at (217) 421-7977. Follow him on Twitter: @TonyJReid