A teenage girl who was with Ronald Maas the night a police officer shot him in the face during a crash-ridden police pursuit through Lake County testified Thursday that Maas had snorted heroin and was drinking heavily before the chase.
The girl, who was 15 when the November 2014 police pursuit started, took the stand during the third day of testimony. Maas, 20, of Ingleside, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated DUI, auto theft and several other felonies.
The girl, now 17, said she dated Maas and testified he drove to her Lake Villa home Nov. 13, 2014, and snorted heroin there before the two went to a friend’s house and began drinking.
She said Maas drank “at least half the bottle” of Captain Morgan Rum.
The two then left, and Maas was going to drive to another friend’s home, but “we never made it, though,” she said.
Hours later, she awoke in a wrecked, burning truck on Route 45 and was taken to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, she said.
The run-in with police began about 10:45 p.m. in Round Lake when officers attempted to stop the car Maas was driving for speeding, according to police. The girl reaffirmed police reports and earlier testimony that alleged Maas stopped the car long enough for an officer to exit the police vehicle and approach the car before Maas sped off.
Round Lake police discontinued the chase for safety reasons but learned the Ford Fusion that Maas was driving had been reported stolen in Chicago. The girl testified Maas told her he bought the car from a relative.
The girl said Maas then flipped the Fusion on Route 83 and she suffered a concussion in that crash. She said the two then made their way through a cornfield, Maas took a pickup truck from a residence and the two drove away.
Following another brief police chase, the girl said Mass drove into a neighborhood near Route 134 and eventually toward an intersection that police and prosecutors identified as Forest Avenue and Route 134 in Ingleside.
The girl said police had the intersection “blocked off,” but Maas still drove from Forest onto Route 134 and struck another pickup truck “head-on.”
“That’s when a cop got out and shot at us,” she said.
Round Lake Heights police Officer Shane Page testified Wednesday that Maas turned onto Route 134, revved the engine and drove straight toward Page, who fired two shots after yelling to stop the truck.
Defense attorney Eric Rinehart has asserted since opening statements that Maas never directed the truck toward Page and that the charges of attempted murder should not have been filed.
Page testified he was in front of the truck, moving to the left, when he fired the shots, aiming for the driver’s chest area.
Both shots hit the driver’s side of the truck, one going through the driver’s window and through Maas’ left cheek, according to reports and evidence introduced at the trial.
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When Rinehart asked about the location of the bullet damage on the truck, Page responded, “I’m not a sniper.”
Under cross-examination Thursday, the girl testified that Page shot from the side of the truck “at an angle” from about 5 feet away.
She said when Maas was shot, the passenger-side window shattered as the bullet went by.
“I was crying and going ballistic,” she said.
After being shot, Maas escaped in the truck, and the two ended up briefly parked in a bar parking lot near Route 120, where the girl said she could see Maas bleeding from the mouth and knew he had been shot. She said he then pulled into a neighborhood, stopped again and indicated he wanted to go home.
She said Maas was driving on Route 45 back to her home when another police car tried to pull them over. She said Maas was driving about 80 miles per hour when he tried to pass a car moving at a slower rate and struck another car head-on at a curve.
The crash, in Lake Villa, seriously wounded the two people in the other car.
The girl testified that when she awoke, she was still in the truck, which was upside down and on fire, and Maas was gone. She managed to get out and was taken into custody before being taken to the hospital, where she was treated for an injured hand and diagnosed with a concussion.
According to police and prosecutors, Maas left the wrecked truck after the crash and attempted to steal a dump truck from a nearby home-business but was arrested by police, who dragged him from the vehicle.
He also was taken to Condell Medical Center, where prosecutors said he tested positive for cocaine, opiates and marijuana, and was legally drunk.
Lake County sheriff’s Deputy Vince Sciarroni, who was at the scene of the shooting on Route 134, testified he saw Page behind the truck Maas was driving after he heard the shots. He also testified he didn’t see Page between the truck Maas was driving and a red pickup truck, the spot where Page said he opened fire.
Under cross examination, Sciarroni confirmed he saw two shell casings in an area that would have been on the left side of the truck.
Page also testified that after he shot Maas, the teen put the truck into reverse and was backing toward him. Page said he had to jump over a guardrail on Route 134 to avoid being struck, and he sprained his knee when he fell into a ditch on the other side of the guardrail.
Page, who testified it was the only time he has fired his gun while on duty, was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Sciarroni said Maas crashed into both the red pickup truck on Route 134 and a police car before escaping. The booming collisions and gunshots could be heard on an audiotape of the encounter played for the jury.
The owner of the pickup truck, which was struck twice, testified earlier this week that he got a concussion.
The trial is expected to continue Friday.
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