2 men charged in West Side armed robbery, police chase

Two men were charged with leading police on a chase after robbing a person Wednesday morning in the Fifth City neighborhood on the West Side.

Bryan Westbrook, 22, of the Lawndale neighborhood, was charged with felony counts of armed habitual criminal and unlawful use of a weapon and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to a vehicle, according to Chicago police.

Rubin Tart, 19, also of the Lawndale neighborhood, was charged with felony counts of aggravated fleeing and receiving, possessing or selling a stolen vehicle, police said. Tart also faces a misdemeanor count of driving on a revoked licenses and citations for making an improper left turn and disobeying traffic control service.

Police said the victim of the armed robbery waved officers down about 10:15 a.m. near Homan and Van Buren avenues in the Fifth City neighborhood on the West Side. He told investigators someone in a silver vehicle with Florida license plates had robbed him at gunpoint.

Officers spotted the vehicle and tried to pull it over, but it took off, police said. At some point Westbrook and Tart led officers on a short foot chase that ended up on the nearby CTA tracks. As a result, service was temporarily disrupted.

Westbrook and Tart were ultimately taken into custody and a gun was recovered, police said.

No injuries were reported, according to police.

The vehicles Westbrook and Tart were driving also matched the description of a vehicle connected to other incidents earlier on Wednesday in the CPD Odgen District on the West Side, police said.