A man has been charged with DUI after he allegedly drove away from a police officer trying to pull him over and crashed a van into a building early Saturday in west suburban Naperville.
The officer tried to stop a silver 2009 Chrysler Town & Country at 1:14 a.m. when it was southbound on Washington Street approaching Osler Drive, according to a statement from Naperville police. The driver sped away and the officer ended the pursuit after seeing the van run the red light at Washington and 75th Street.
About 1:23 a.m., the van was still southbound on Washington when the driver, 25-year-old Trenton A. Smith, “failed to negotiate the left hand curve” between Oak Bluff Court and Naper Boulevard, police said. The van left the road to the right, drove through a retention basin and hit the side of a building in the 2600 block of South Washington.
Smith then got out of the van and ran away on foot, police said. Officers found him hiding in the window well of a nearby home under construction.
Smith, who lives in Bolingbrook, was taken to Edward Hospital in Naperville with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. He was charged with driving under the influence, driving with a suspended license, fleeing or attempting to elude an officer, leaving the scene of a property damage crash, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, improper lane usage, speeding and disregarding a red traffic signal. He is scheduled to appear in court March 7.
