P.O. Eric Solorio #13609

Police Officer Eric Solorio died from injuries he received during a squad car accident several weeks earlier.

On January 17, Officer Solorio was in the passenger seat as he and his partner spotted a car speeding near 67th and Union at 10:47 p.m. The officers initiated the pursuit while traveling east on 67th Street. Their squad car was cut off by another driver and they rammed into a tree and church building at 701 W. Marquette.

Officer Solorio was assigned to the Targeted Response Unit and served with the Chicago Police Department for 3.5 years. He is survived by his mother, brother, and two sisters.

He was laid to rest at Resurrection Cemetery, Justice, IL.

On September 7, 2006, Officer Solorio's star was retired by the Chicago Police Department.
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He enrolled at Loyola as a student at St. Joseph College Seminary before switching his major to premed and finally deciding that police work was his true calling. He had been choosen for the Targeted Response Unit, a Unit sent to city "Hot Spots" to deal with areas where gangs, guns, drugs, homicides were rampant. In March 2006, the Granville Police Office, a new satellite police station located under the Granville Red Line "EL" stop in the Edgewater neighborhood, was dedicated in Officer Solorio's honor.

(End of Watch: Chicago Police Killed in the Line of Duty 1853-2006; Burke and O'Gorman 2007 Chicago’s Book Press)
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Eric Horng, ABC 7 Chicago reporter
September 1, 2010 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- A state-of-the-art Chicago Public Schools high school was named after Chicago Police Officer Eric Solorio, who was killed in a squad car crash in 2006.

Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley and Alderman Ed Burke, 14th Ward, dedicated the Eric Solorio Academy High School Wednesday morning. The high school will open next Tuesday at the start of the school year.

"This is the history of Chicago. Sacrifice, fire, police, citizens sacrifice themselves to make a better way of life," said Mayor Daley.

More: Funeral mass for Chicago Police Officer Eric SolorioOfficer Solorio, 26, was a member of the CPD's elite gang unit. He was critically injured on January 17, 2006, while trying to conduct a traffic stop on a speeding. The squad car he was riding in swerved to avoid an accident, hit black ice and slammed into a tree and church near Marquette and Halsted. Officer Solorio died of those injuries about a month later in February 2006.

"This school, Chicago's newest, is founded on a miracle, the miracle of Eric Solorio," said Ald. Burke.

Officer Solorio grew up in the neighborhood near Eric Solorio Academy High School, located at 5400 S. St. Louis, and took pre-med courses in college before becoming a Chicago police officer and continued his education after joining the force.

"Curiosity and quest for knowledge helped him to achieve academically. He loved learning and he excelled in school," said Richelle Solorio, sister of Officer Solorio.

"He was not just a police officer. He had a badge and gun. He was part of a community. He understood about children and family and difficulties. But at the same time was a good police officer," said Mayor Daley.

The Eric Solorio Academy High School will have 1,200 students. It is the only high school to open in a new building this CPS school year.

"This is a truly extraordinary facility and we had hoped to make it a premiere neighborhood high school in the Midwest," said Victor Iturralde, principal.

In Memory of Eric Solorio, AQPS '97 1979 - 2006
A member of the Chicago Police Department's elite antigang unit died Sunday, nearly a month after his squad car went out of control during a chase and smashed into a tree. Eric Solorio, 26, had been hospitalized since the Jan. 17 accident in the city's Englewood neighborhood. Friends who grew up with Eric on the Southwest Side say he seemed untouched by the gangs and the violence that surrounded them, that he rarely acknowledged their existence. There was a constant urgency about him, who since childhood seemed to be searching for a way to help others, friends and family said. After high school at Quigley Seminary, Eric entered St. Joseph College Seminary at Loyola University but transferred to the school's premed program. When he announced to friends that he had finally found his calling, to become a police officer, few were surprised. "He wanted to help people to live better, which is why he wanted to be a doctor, but he couldn't wait, he wanted to do it immediately," said Juan Mendez, Eric's cousin who grew up with him near 43rd and Honore Streets. Even after his first surgery, Eric had the nurses at Christ Hospital laughing as he blew everyone kisses despite having tubes in his throat and being under sedation. "One of our own has been taken from us," Supt. Philip Cline said in a printed statement. "The community has lost a friend and protector, and a family has lost a loved one whose character and courage they will continue to love and respect forever."
Charles Sheehan, Chicago Tribune
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Patrolman Solario was survived by his mother, Amelia; two sisters, Richelle Romo and Rosa Solorio; and a brother, Richard Carillo. Funeral services were held at Holy Cross Church and he was laid to rest at Ressurrection Cemetary, Chicago IL.
(End of Watch: Chicago Police Killed in the Line of Duty 1853-2006; Burke and O'Gorman 2007 Chicago’s Book Press)