Eisenhower Expy. shut down after chase of homicide suspect

A police chase involving a homicide suspect Thursday night ended in a multiple-vehicle crash that rerouted all traffic off of the inbound Eisenhower Expressway on the Near West Side.

Officers were chasing a vehicle believed to be involved in a shooting that killed a 20-year-old man about five hours earlier in the Lawndale neighborhood, Chicago police said.

The driver of the vehicle crashed about 10:35 p.m. in the inbound lanes of I-290 near Racine, according to police. Four other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Husband and wife Howard and Sandra Lindsey were rear-ended by the suspect’s car minutes after merging onto the expressway.

“We were traveling on I-290 and my wife got hit on the backside, and we noticed the car that hit us kept going and did not stop,” Howard Lindsey said. “Maybe a couple seconds after, that we saw a squad car coming up.”

At least two damaged cars could be seen hooked to tow trucks near the exit ramp at Racine.

Police on the scene refused to give details of the incident. “There was a lot of property damage and stupidity,” one said.

After the crash, the man reportedly got out of his car and ran up an embankment and into the Little Italy neighborhood on the Near West Side.

On Harrison at Throop streets, at least 10 squad cars were parked in the street, including a car that straddled the middle of the road. At least two ambulances came to the scene around 11 p.m. One person was taken from a squad car but it was unclear who it was.

An officer suffered an ankle injury while arresting the suspect, police said. They were being treated at a hospital.

Two gray gym shoes were left in a parking lot for a UIC building at 1200 W. Harrison between the Eisenhower and Harrison.

“It was a mess,” one officer said.