Chicago man arrested after series of suburban carjackings, crashes

A Chicago man was arrested after stealing and crashing three vehicles in the span of about two hours Saturday in west suburban Aurora.

The first carjacking happened at 5:25 a.m., when the 26-year-old pulled a gun on a 36-year-old man at a gas station in the 300 block of South Broadway, Aurora police said.

He drove off with the man’s 2004 Kia minivan, but crashed it just a few minutes later near Lake Street and Indian Trail, police said. When a 33-year-old man from Sandwich pulled over to help, the suspect jumped into his vehicle, a black 2005 Chevrolet, and drove away.

An officer who saw the abandoned minivan on the side of the road at 5:33 a.m. quickly found a loaded gun in the passenger compartment, police said.

At 5:37 a.m., not five minutes after he crashed the minivan, Aurora police received calls that the stolen black Chevrolet was involved in a rollover crash on Interstate 88 near Farnsworth Avenue, police said. Officers arriving to the scene found a stranded 18-year-old Sycamore woman who stopped to help the man, and promptly had her gray Dodge Avenger stolen.

The man fled eastbound on I-88 in the woman’s Dodge, and wasn’t arrested until he was seen near Interstate 290 in Bellwood, police said. After a brief pursuit, the man crashed the Dodge and was taken into custody by Illinois State Police.

The man was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for injuries that weren’t thought to be life-threatening, police said. He will be released to Aurora police custody for charging.

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