CHICAGO — A Hammond, Indiana, man who was shot by Chicago police after prosecutors say he drove a pickup truck straight at an officer in the Belmont Cragin neighbourhood has been sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder.

Carlos Sanches-Roa, 30, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, and Judge Aleksandra Gillespie imposed the six-year sentence the same day, ordering him to serve 85 percent of the term. The plea closes the criminal case that began with a chaotic 2 a.m. call on Chicago's Northwest Side in the spring of 2025, in which one officer was struck by the truck and two officers opened fire.

Source: Europe Says (CWB Chicago report)

A 2 a.m. call on Belmont Avenue

The case dates to about 2 a.m. on May 31, 2025, when Chicago police officers responded to calls of a battery in progress and shots fired near Belmont and Central avenues in Belmont Cragin, according to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), the city agency that reviews police shootings. An employee at a business in the 5600 block of West Belmont Avenue directed the responding officers toward Sanches-Roa as he was getting into a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck.

Officers approached and ordered him to get out of the truck, but he did not comply, officials said. Prosecutors said video showed Sanches-Roa accelerating directly toward the officers and striking one of them as he drove off. COPA's account says he accelerated toward the officers, hit one officer, and fled the scene in the truck.

Two officers opened fire as he drove away. Police later found the Silverado in the 3200 block of North Menard Avenue and discovered that Sanches-Roa had been shot. Officers recovered a gun from inside the truck, COPA said.

Paramedics took Sanches-Roa to a hospital in critical condition. The officer who was struck suffered blunt-force trauma to his chest and was listed in good condition at the time, officials said. No other injuries were reported in the accounts of the incident.

From arrest to guilty plea

In its June 1, 2025, release announcing the arrest, the Chicago Police Department — which listed his name as Carlos Sanchez-Roa, 28, of the 3000 block of Towle Avenue in Hammond — said he was arrested on May 31, 2025, in the 5600 block of West Belmont Avenue and charged with one felony count of aggravated battery of a peace officer, one felony count of attempted first-degree murder and one felony count of aggravated assault of a peace officer. A detention hearing was set for June 2, 2025, at 2600 South California Avenue.

Source: Chicago Police Department news release, June 1, 2025

Rather than take those charges to trial, Sanches-Roa pleaded guilty to attempted murder on Tuesday. Under the sentence Judge Gillespie imposed, the 85 percent requirement means he must serve a little over five years of the six-year term before he can become eligible for release under Illinois sentencing rules, apart from any credit or adjustments the court record provides.

The body-camera footage that stayed sealed

COPA said the officers' body-worn cameras recorded the incident, but a judge prohibited the agency from releasing the footage while the criminal case was pending. That restriction was tied to the prosecution that has now ended with a guilty plea and sentence, leaving the oversight review of the officers' own use of force as the remaining public track in the case.

What happens next

Sanches-Roa now begins serving the six-year Illinois prison term imposed on Tuesday, with 85 percent to serve. The second track is accountability for the police shooting itself: COPA documented the incident from the first night, and its review — and the question of the body-camera footage a judge kept sealed during the criminal case — remains the outstanding item for Chicago readers following the Belmont Cragin case.