2 Chicago police officers struck with getaway car during burglary arrest in Streeterville; suspect charged
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Chicago man was charged and two Chicago police officers were recovering after they were struck by a getaway car while placing him into custody Saturday morning in Streeterville on Chicago's Near North Side.
Darius Carter, 32, was charged with one misdemeanor count of attempted theft/unauthorized con of $500 and was issued four traffic citations. Police are still looking for that driver.
Officers say they pulled over the car because it matched the description of one used in a burglary just over a mile away in the Gold Coast neighborhood.
"Any time you are having basically a wrestling match in the middle of DuSable Lakeshore Drive, you know, it's fortunate that nobody else was struck by the vehicle during the chaos," said Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd).
He said the issues started in the 1500 block of North State Parkway in the Gold Coast when officers interrupted burglary suspects breaking the window of an ABC work truck while employees were inside a nearby building.
Video from that scene shows a couple of officers and the burglarized vehicle, an ABC work truck with the front passenger window smashed in.
Police say they were working off information from the scene when their officer initiated an arrest around 7:45 a.m.
"We have had some armed robberies and some carjackings in this community recently, and we have deployed undercover police officers and unmarked vehicles," Hopkins said. "And it was such a time today that happened upon the robbery in progress."
He says police followed suspects more than a mile to the intersection of DuSable Lake Shore Drive and Chicago Avenue, but as they took the driver into custody, a passenger slid over behind the wheel and took off - hitting both officers and his accomplice with the car.
"These police officers are out there doing their job, trying to bring dangerous, violent offenders into custody, and they got hurt today," Hopkins said.
Hopkins said there is a video of the entire incident, much of which was caught on a surveillance camera at the intersection.
Both officers had to be hospitalized for their injuries. Hopkins said the two officers were treated and released. The suspect who was arrested was also hospitalized.
The getaway car, a stolen black sedan, was found on 51st Street on the South Side. Police are now processing that car for evidence for suspects of a burglary case that now includes felony charges of aggravated battery to a police officer.
