AN ACR MLG FLC TAXIES THE WRONG RTE WHEN THE CAPT FOLLOWS THE PRECEDING ACFT BEYOND HIS OWN TURNING POINT.

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AT APPROX XA10Z ON OCT/MON/97; OUR FLT WAS ABEAM AN ORD GATE WHEN OUTBOUND GND GAVE TAXI INSTRUCTIONS 'RWY 27L; FOLLOW THE FOKKER; M5; TXWY M' WHICH I READ BACK EXACTLY AND UNDERSTOOD. I THEN REPEATED TO THE CAPT (WHO HEARD THE INSTRUCTIONS ALSO) 'BEHIND THE FOKKER; M5; TXWY M; RWY 27L.' WE TURNED L BEHIND THE FOKKER ONTO TXWY B AT WHICH TIME I WENT 'HEADS-DOWN' REQUESTING NEW TKOF DATA VIA THE ACARS DUE TO A TEMP INCREASE OF 3 DEGS C OVER OUR CURRENT DATA. WE PROCEEDED ONTO TXWY D AS THE DATA CAME UP ON THE PRINTER AND I WENT 'HEADS DOWN' AGAIN TO RESET ALL ITEMS. WHEN I LOOKED BACK UP; THE CAPT HAD JUST TAXIED BY M5. I IMMEDIATELY INFORMED HIM AND HE SAID HE WAS THINKING ONLY 'FOLLOW THE FOKKER' WHICH WAS ALL HE REMEMBERED FROM THE TAXI CLRNC. I THEN INFORMED GND THAT 'WE MISSED M5' AND REQUESTED TAXI CLRNC TO CONTINUE STRAIGHT AHEAD TO M7 WHICH WAS GRANTED. CHICAGO O'HARE IS A VERY BUSY PLACE AND BOTH PLTS NEED TO LISTEN CAREFULLY. AFTER THE TAXI INSTRUCTIONS WERE ISSUED; READ BACK BY ME; REPEATED TO THE CAPT AND ACKNOWLEDGED; I ASSUMED HE KNEW WHAT TO DO AS THESE WERE RELATIVELY EASY FOR ORD. I KNOW I WILL BE MORE DILIGENT IN MY DUTIES NOT TO SPEND TIME 'HEADS DOWN' AND NEVER ASSUME 'EASY' TAXI INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE FOLLOWED.