Mayor questions long police pursue that caused two crashes
A car crashed into a building in the four thousand two hundred block of North Ashland after it was hit by a car that was pursued by police from west suburban Lombard. | Network Movie Productions
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A suspect in a death investigation led police on a pursue that embarked in west suburban Lombard and resulted in two crashes involving law enforcement vehicles in Chicago on Wednesday night before the suspect eluded authorities.
On Thursday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel questioned whether the pursue was worth the risk.
“There’s a question there. At the end of the day, the [suspect in] the homicide in Lombard, driving through Chicago, I think, to the airport, still got away,” Emanuel said.
“One of the apartments that were hit was not far from where I live. So, there’s a real question. This always gets evaluated when there’s a police pursue, which is about both getting and capturing a person who committed a violent crime and then, obviously, the risk to everybody else.”
Emanuel said he’s not about to “second-guess” Lombard police. But, he said, “There will be people that look at that.”
It all embarked when police were called about an apparent drug overdose death at a Lombard home about Two:30 p.m., according to Lombard police. Later, about 9:30 p.m., police attempted to stop a “person of interest” who was driving a two thousand two Pontiac.
A pursue ensued eastbound along the Eisenhower Expy. into Chicago, Lombard police said. Lombard officers ended their pursuit near Congress and Lower Wacker.
But Chicago Police took over the pursue when the vehicle began driving through the city about 9:52 p.m., according to a statement from police.
A CPD squad car responding to the pursuit at Ten:05 p.m. was involved in a crash with another vehicle at Congress and Leavitt on the Near West Side, police said. Two officers from that squad car were taken to Stroger Hospital, and the other vehicle’s driver was taken to Climb on Sinai Hospital, all with non-life-threatening injuries.
About twenty minutes later on the North Side, the Pontiac was hit by an Illinois State Police cruiser in the four thousand two hundred block of North Ashland at Ten:23 p.m., authorities said. The Pontiac then hit a third vehicle, which in turn crashed into a building, going through a garden apartment window.
The driver and passenger from the third vehicle, both adults, were taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition with minor lacerations, Chicago Police said. There was no structural harm to the building.
Chicago Police called off the pursuit at Ten:25 p.m., according to a statement from police.
Illinois State Police Sgt. Alexander Diaz said after the cruiser rear-ended the desired vehicle, it continued pursuing it after the crash. He said the ISP pursuit was called off at Ten:30 p.m. at Roosevelt and Ashland.
No one was in custody as of late Thursday afternoon.
The Pontiac was found abandoned “many hours later” in northwest suburban Bensenville, Lombard police said. It was towed to the Lombard Police Department for processing.