East Chicago police on Friday filed charges of resisting law enforcement, reckless homicide and theft against a couple involved in a fatal crash while fleeing from police after the woman stole a case of beer to sell for crack cocaine, according to court records.
Donnell Howard Jr., 31, and Jessica Pichon, 27, of East Chicago, are being held without bail in Lake County Jail on charges filed stemming from the crash Wednesday that killed 13-year-old Julianna Chambers and seriously injured her grandmother, Theresa Paramo, at a Hammond intersection.
The charges filed Friday in Lake Superior Court include resisting law enforcement causing death, a level 3 felony punishable by three to 16 years; resisting law enforcement resulting in serious bodily injury to Paramo, a level 5 felony punishable by one to six years; resisting law enforcement, a level 6 felony; reckless homicide, a level 5 felony; and misdemeanor resisting law enforcement and theft.
In a statement to police, Pichon said she and Howard had been smoking crack cocaine earlier in the day Wednesday. At some point, Howard told Pichon they needed money to buy more drugs, according to the probable cause affidavit filed in court.
Howard drove them to Strack and Van Til, 4725 Indianapolis Blvd., East Chicago, and told her to go in and steal three cases of Modelo beer to sell for drugs, court records state. Pichon told investigators she tried to leave the store with the beer in her cart, but a worker confronted her, so she grabbed one of the cases and ran from the store to her blue Dodge Durango, where Howard was waiting, according to court documents.
The couple fled the parking lot at a high rate of speed, leading East Chicago police on a pursuit that continued into Hammond, documents said.
At the same time, Paramo, 57, of Whiting, was northbound on Columbia Avenue with her granddaughter, Julianna, in the back seat. They were returning home from the girl’s orthodontist appointment in Munster.
Whiting girl, 13, killed in Hammond crash Michelle L. Quinn
Theresa Paramo took her granddaughter to an orthodontist appointment Wednesday afternoon, like she’d done many times before.
But on their way home to Whiting, Paramo’s SUV was struck by a Highland man fleeing police, according to East Chicago and Hammond police.
Julianna Chambers, 13, of Whiting,…
Theresa Paramo took her granddaughter to an orthodontist appointment Wednesday afternoon, like she’d done many times before.
But on their way home to Whiting, Paramo’s SUV was struck by a Highland man fleeing police, according to East Chicago and Hammond police.
Julianna Chambers, 13, of Whiting,…
(Michelle L. Quinn)
The two had the green light at Columbia and Gostlin Street when the Durango crashed into Paramo’s vehicle, police said. The Durango hit Paramo’s SUV, forcing the SUV through a fence and into a grassy area outside Lang Ice Service’s parking lot.
The Durango was forced into the right lane of westbound Gostlin, just east of the intersection, according to Hammond police. Both Howard and Pichon tried to run from the crash scene, records state.
Paramo was taken to Methodist Hospital’s Northlake Campus in Gary with critical injuries and was later airlifted to Advocate Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill., police said.
Julianna was taken to Franciscan St. Margaret Health in Hammond, where she was pronounced dead from blunt-force trauma, according to the coroner’s news release.
Pichon told a detective she was wrong for trying to steal the beer and would take full responsibility for that but wanted to get her car back and go home, records state. During the police chase, Pichon said she begged Howard to stop several times, but he refused, records state.
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott Jr. on Thursday offered his sympathies to the Paramo family but was upset the accident happened in the first place. East Chicago Mayor Anthony Copeland shared McDermott’s sentiment Friday.
"I can tell you that it’s under investigation. I’m waiting to find out the results of that investigation," Copeland said. "I’m awaiting an investigation that will produce the facts that will give me a reason to never second-guess. We owe the families the truth and nothing but the truth.
"My heart and my family and the East Chicago family, our hearts go out for them. They’re in our prayers."
McDermott said Wednesday’s accident was the second at that intersection in less than a year. A Lake County sheriff’s officer was injured in June after a truck struck his squad car while he was responding to a drunk-driving call.
Michelle L. Quinn and Ruth Ann Krause are freelance reporters for the Post-Tribune. Post-Tribune reporter Craig Lyons contributed.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
