Hammond Cop Charged in Deadly Crash on His Way to Work. His Bail? $5,000 Cash.

Hammond City Hall. Off-duty Hammond police officer Alonso J. Lopez, 34, is charged in the Oct. 16 crash that killed Thomas Hunt Jr. of Gary. Photo: Lotzman Katzman via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Thomas Hunt Jr. was three days away from turning 74 when a pickup truck slammed into the driver's side of his Toyota Highlander on Columbia Avenue. According to charging documents, the man driving that truck was a Hammond police officer who had been drinking and was headed in to start his shift.

Officer Alonso J. Lopez, 34, of Hammond, was charged Thursday with operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death, a Level 4 felony, and reckless homicide, a Level 5 felony, according to Indiana State Police. A warrant went out that afternoon. Lopez turned himself in to troopers that evening at the Hammond Police Department, his own department, and was taken to the Lake County Jail.

Then came the number that ought to make every Lake County taxpayer sit up. Online court records showed bail set at $5,000 cash, with no court date scheduled as of Thursday night. Those same records carried a note from Magistrate Mark Watson that the probable cause affidavit, as written, does not sufficiently establish that Hunt died as a result of the crash.

Read that twice. A man is dead, the state has filed a homicide-grade charge, and the judicial officer reviewing the paperwork flagged that the paperwork never quite connects the crash to the death. Maybe that is a drafting gap the prosecutor's office fixes in an afternoon. It is still the kind of gap that sinks cases, and the Gary family burying a father and grandfather deserves a file built without holes.

What the affidavit does lay out is not flattering to the officer. As reported by FOX 32 Chicago, a witness estimated Lopez's Chevrolet Silverado was moving at 60 to 70 mph in a 35 mph zone. A preliminary breath test showed a blood alcohol concentration of 0.118%. Lopez allegedly told investigators he had about four beers and stopped drinking between 4:30 and 5 p.m., and that he was driving to a shift set to begin at 9 p.m. The crash happened at about 8:55 p.m. A trooper who spoke with him at the hospital reported a strong odor of alcohol, red and watery eyes, and speech that was at times slurred. The driver of a third vehicle told investigators Lopez appeared to be staggering after he got out of his truck.

There is another side, and it belongs in the record. Lopez told investigators that Hunt pulled out in front of him and that he braked but could not stop. A trooper who reviewed surveillance video said the light turned from green to yellow as the truck went through the intersection, though another driver involved said he was nearly certain it was red. Results from the blood draw Lopez agreed to give at the hospital were not included in the affidavit. Every charge here is an allegation. Lopez is presumed innocent unless the state proves otherwise in court, and state police say more charges could be sent to prosecutors once crash reconstruction is finished.

The handling so far deserves a fair grade. Hammond Police Chief William Short asked state police to take the case rather than investigate his own officer, and the department placed Lopez on paid administrative leave, Lakeshore Public Media reported. After the crash Lopez was held 48 hours at the jail and then released while troopers did their work. Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. had warned early in the week that a charging decision could take a few weeks. It took six days.

Paid leave is now the question that hangs over City Hall. Hammond residents are entitled to know whether an officer charged with killing a 73-year-old motorist while allegedly drunk stays on the public payroll while the case moves through court, and we found no public word from the city on whether that changes now that charges are filed. The Times of Northwest Indiana and other outlets are following the court file, and so will we.

Hunt's family, speaking through representatives, remembered him as a hardworking father and grandfather who was always the one helping somebody else, and asked for privacy. He was pulling out of a parking lot on a Friday night. That is all he was doing.

Photo: Hammond City Hall by Lotzman Katzman, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0.

Written by Hoosiers, for Hoosiers.