‘I want to see if he’s remorseful:’ Victim’s brother says of fugitive suspect in fatal 2011 Logan Square DUI taken back into custody

A man who fled to Mexico after being accused of dragging a 66-year-old insurance broker 300 feet, killing him during an alcohol-fueled crash in Logan Square in 2011, is back in Chicago facing new charges, officials said Thursday.

Saul Chavez, 47, who was extradited from Mexico earlier this month, is being held without bond at the Cook County Jail after appearing before a judge in Maywood courthouse on Saturday, said Shereen Mohammad, a spokesperson for the Cook County sheriff’s office.

Chavez was wanted on two outstanding warrants: one for the 2011 aggravated DUI that resulted in the death of William McCann and another violation of bail bond in 2012, Mohammad said.

Chavez was behind the wheel of a black Dodge Neon on June 8, 2011 that fatally struck McCann, and dragged him nearly 300 feet. An off-duty Chicago police officer was one of two good Samaritans who chased Chavez down an alley after he fled the crash on the bustling Kedzie Avenue.

McCann, of the 2500 block of North Kedzie Avenue, died at the scene of massive internal injuries, according to police.

Shortly after the wreck, Chavez was issued a $250,000 D bond for the case and was released from custody after posting the required 10% of that bond amount, court records show. But he stopped showing up in court and after missing dates, he was subsequently charged with violation of bail bond in 2012, and a no-bail arrest warrant was issued for that charge, according to court records.

The case caused controversy in early 2012 when Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle refused to cooperate with federal requests to hold undocumented immigrants in county jail after a federal immigration official wrote her a letter warning that the county undermines public safety by not keeping suspected illegal immigrants in custody while agents decide whether to deport them.

At the time, Preckwinkle said she was “outraged” by the case involving Chavez, who was an undocumented immigrant with a prior felony conviction and was able to get out of jail by posting $25,000.

But Preckwinkle said that focusing on the relatively small number of undocumented immigrants who commit crimes or fail to turn up in court after making bond in criminal cases is divisive.

“This type of fearmongering is distasteful, and has no place in the public policy arena,” Preckwinkle said in 2012.

A former high school hockey player and avid White Sox fan, McCann graduated from Mendel Catholic High School on Chicago’s South Side and was in the insurance business for more than 40 years.

He worked for the last decade at the Serpe Insurance Agency office in Lincoln Park, said his colleague and friend, Jim Serpe at the time of McCann’s death, who called him a “super-nice guy, always pleasant, always fun to be around.”

McCann’s brother, Brian McCann, reached by phone Thursday night, said he still has lingering rage, most of it directed at politicians who “enabled” Chavez to bond out of jail on the charges.

But for about the last year, the case has ramped up and the search by the Chicago FBI’s fugitive unit became more aggressive. After years of waiting, they became closer to finding out where he was.

“He was driving a truck,’’ McCann said of Chavez, adding they also learned he was somewhere near Mexico City with his mom.

McCann called the FBI fugitive unit’s actions “marvelous.”

“I have no quarrel whatsoever with them,” McCann said of the fugitive unit. “They have been marvelous in the last three months, active in this…keeping me appraised with phone calls.”

Finally, after some ten years, a solid development: Chavez was located.

“They captured him, flew home with him on Friday night. At 6:59 p.m. they landed, went through customs and whisked him over to Cook County Jail,’’ McCann said.

The patriarch of their family, William, or “Dennis,” was a commercial insurance broker who owned his own agency.

“He was crossing the street to call on a client, El Cid, he was good buddies with, and would hang out there,” McCann said. El Cid, a popular Mexican restaurant, is located at 2645 N. Kedzie Ave.

“Chavez was stone drunk and hit him, dragged him. He died a violent death. That was tough,’’ his brother said. “Those were rough times. Subsequent to that, my anger really ratcheted up.”

Eventually, McCann said, he wants to talk to Chavez.

“I want to see if he’s remorseful.”

Chavez, of the 3200 block of West Wilson Avenue, moved to Chicago from California three years before the crash and worked at a North Side restaurant, his court-appointed attorney said at the time.

Chavez was extradited from Mexico to the United States on Dec. 9, according to Joseph Fitzpatrick, U.S. attorney’s office spokesperson. Federal officials have moved to dismiss their complaint, which initially charged Chavez with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, he added.

Chavez is due back at the Leighton Criminal Court Building on Dec. 21.

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