Man sentenced to 30 years for hijacking couple’s vehicle in 2013

A judge handed down a sentence of 30 years in prison Wednesday to a man convicted of a 2013 hijacking in DuPage County following a deadly crash during a police chase in Chicago.

Rockie Douglas, 38, received the maximum sentence allowed by law after he pleaded guilty to a felony count of aggravated vehicular hijacking before Judge John Kinsella, according to the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office.

In the afternoon on Dec. 21, 2013, Douglas, of Beach Park, was trying to elude authorities when the vehicle he was driving broke down on the ramp from Interstate 294 to Interstate 88, prosecutors said.

Douglas hijacked a couple’s vehicle when they pulled over to assist him, prosecutors said. He was taken into custody several days later in Wisconsin.

Hours before hijacking the couple’s vehicle, Douglas was involved in a crash that killed 11-year-old Donovan Turnage while he was being pursed by police in Chicago.

Turnage’s mother sued the city over the crash, which was settled for $1.3 million last summer.