A West Side man who carjacked a CTA bus and held the driver at gunpoint last year has been sentenced to 10 years in jail, but he could be released in less than three.
In a bench trial on December 5, Judge Arthur Willis convicted 34-year-old Cortez Flowers of aggravated vehicular hijacking and aggravated unlawful restraint, court records show. Willis recently imposed the sentence, which includes a concurrent one-year term for a felony driving case in which Flowers was on bail at the time of the hijacking.
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Flowers’ 10-year sentence will be reduced to five years thanks to statutory credit for good behavior. He has already accumulated over 600 days of credit for time spent in Cook County Jail while awaiting trial.
Prosecutors claim Flowers hijacked a #54 Cicero bus after it arrived at the Montrose and Cicero terminal about 10:45 p.m. on January 13, 2024. The bus driver, who had allowed Flowers to remain on board for the southbound ride as long as he did not cause any problems, reboarded after a brief break and discovered Flowers standing in the aisle with a revolver.
According to court records, Flowers told the driver to “be afraid” and asked him to go north before returning to his customary route. The event continued for around 25 minutes before Flowers was dropped off at Division and Cicero. Officials say the bus driver attempted to activate the vehicle’s panic alarm but accidentally touched the wrong button.
Chicago police used facial recognition technology on CTA video footage to identify Flowers. Officers then staked out his residence and arrested him.
“That’s me,” Flowers apparently confirmed when shown an image of the hijacker, claiming he had merely fallen asleep on the bus and awoke to hunt for his wallet. Detectives stated that he later admitted the incident was “a big mistake.”
He was already facing a felony prosecution for driving with a suspended license owing to a DUI, a crime for which he had previously been convicted in 2011, twice in 2013, and in 2021, officials said.
Flowers is set to be paroled on Valentine’s Day 2028.
