Illinois State Comptroller Susana Mendoza was on a Sunday bike ride with her husband and 4-year-old son when a black pickup truck came barreling through a red light.

A few blocks farther down Austin, at Higgins, the black pickup rear-ended a car, causing a multivehicle crash. Witnesses tried to stop him, but the driver of the black pickup was able to drive away before police arrived.

He might never have been caught if it weren't for Mendoza. She rode up on her bike, saw the damage, helped the other drivers and confronted the man in the pickup. She got in his face. And she took an amazing video, which you can see above.

She didn't then know who he was.

But he's a rather large man who is well-versed in The Chicago Way.

He's a fellow with an infamous reputation, two stretches in prison, a guy who stole millions in quarters from the Illinois Tollway but still had enough clout to get a City Hall job under former Mayor Richard M. Daley — which led to the Hired Truck scandal. He also ran an army of political tough guys called "The Coalition for Better Government."

One of his friends was Chinatown bookie Nick LoCoco, who on a Sunday during football season oddly decided to go on a horseback ride and wound up dead with head injuries. At the time, as if by coincidence, he was under federal investigation in Hired Truck.

The black pickup truck driver is a guy with a colorful nickname:

"Quarters."

Yeah, John "Quarters" Boyle, a guy I've written many columns about.

Mendoza didn't know who was in the black truck. But she bravely stood up to him.

"He plowed through the red light with no compunction," Mendoza told me Friday. "And then a few blocks later on the same street, there was a four-car pileup. He smashed into them. He'd just run the red light and now he's trying to get away."

So Mendoza got off her bike, got out her phone and commenced shooting video of the pickup driver, telling him to stay put. She later gave the video to police and prosecutors. In it you can hear her shout:

"Hey! Stay there! Don't leave! He's trying to leave!"

Police are called and one of the accident victims stands in front of the truck. But Boyle starts pulling away. The man in front of the truck tries to hold it back and is almost run over.

Boyle pulls up to a nearby quick mart and goes inside. Menedoza won't quit. She follows him inside and tells patrons that police have been called. The video shows Boyle shuffling around the store, looking like he's about to fall over.

Mendoza: "Be careful with this guy!"

John "Quarters" Boyle: "Wha?"

Mendoza: "I said be careful with YOU. You almost ran that man over. I got you on video."

JQB: "You Wha?"

Mendoza: "I've got you on video. Say cheese!"

JQB: "I'm a policeman."

Mendoza: "You're the police? Great. Wonderful. I don't think you are the police and, if you are, you won't be for long, sir."

Boyle gets back in his truck and drives away. "Here he is leaving the scene," Mendoza, still on the case, says on the video. "Oh my God, he's going to hit someone!"

It's a fascinating video with a bunch of chaotic moments. And one thing is absolutely clear: In chaotic moments, people reveal themselves. And Mendoza showed she is one tough lady. She confronted a certified Chicago tough guy, a two-time ex-con. She warned those nearby, she announced she'd called police, she backed the tough guy down and he finally ran away.

And she made wisecracks along the way, like her soon-to-be-famous "Say cheese!"

That was on July 30, 2017, around 12:30 in the afternoon. Some days later, most likely showered and shaved, perhaps even smelling of after-shave and hair product, John "Quarters" Boyle turned himself in to police.

The Cook County State's Attorney's office charged Boyle with leaving the scene of an accident involving injury, failure to report a crash and operating an uninsured vehicle. Since there were days between the crash and Boyle turning himself in, no breathalyzer was administered.

On Friday, wearing an Operating Engineers Local 150 T-shirt, Boyle appeared in Cook County before Judge Stephanie Saltouros for a status hearing in the Daley Center.

Mendoza was there. I was there too. And when the case was continued to Oct. 20, Boyle walked out.

I stopped him in the hall and he made a face.

"YOU?!!! I'm not going to talk to YOU!!!" Boyle said. "I don't have time to talk to you! I'm not talking to YOU! I'm BUSY!"

Then he ran away. The lawyer handling the continuance for Boyle, Dale Boton, asked me what that was about.

Now I made a face.

But as I think more on it, I get the feeling that Quarters doesn't like me very much.

Mendoza didn't know who he was, but she gave her video to police who later gave her a call.

"An officer sent me a photo and said, 'Is this the guy?' And I said, 'Yes, that's the guy — 100 percent.' They said, 'It's John Boyle,'" Mendoza told me on Friday. "I don't know him, but I know that name because of your columns, 'Quarters' Boyle, and it turns out, yes, that's the guy."

Yeah, that's the guy. That's "Quarters."

"I just don't think it's fair that a guy like this just skates away," Mendoza said.

But it's a good thing that Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza stared him down, took that video and said those two magic words to him:

"Say cheese!"

Listen to "The Chicago Way" podcast — with John Kass and Jeff Carlin — and guests Tom Bevan, publisher of RealClearPolitics.com, and Tribune editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis, at wgnradio.com/category/wgn-plus/thechicagoway.

jskass@chicagotribune.com