2 children hurt after Lake County, Indiana, police chase ends in Morgan Park rollover crash
Two children were hurt when a car crashed in Chicago after a police chase by officers from the Lake County, Indiana, Sheriff's Department early Thursday morning.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office said one of their officers had attempted to stop a stolen Toyota SUV in the northbound lanes of I-65 near 61st Street just after 2 a.m. The sheriff's office said the driver refused to stop and fled west on I-80/94 into Illinois.
The Indiana sheriff's office said that near West 115th Street and South Longwood Drive in Chicago, the SUV hit a parked car, rolled over, turned onto its side and slid.
Video from the scene shows the SUV overturned on the roadway due to the impact of the crash.
The driver, a 30-year-old man who has not yet been identified, was taken to a local hospital to be evaluated but police said he did not complain of pain or injuries. The sheriff's office said he was found to have several active warrants in Lake County, Indiana, Cook County, Illinois, and in Michigan for charges including a weapon offense, robbery, fraud and counterfeiting.
A 26-year-old woman was in the passenger seat and complained of chest pain, the sheriff's office said. Law enforcement said she is the mother of the children in the vehicle and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The sheriff's office said a 3-year-old boy had scrapes to his ear and would soon be released from the hospital as of 12:30 p.m. A three-month-old boy was admitted to the hospital for further evaluation, police said, but did not give any further details.
Police said the Indiana Department of Child Services was contacted about the crash. No Lake County, Indiana, officers were hurt in the chase or crash, and none of their vehicles were damaged, the sheriff's office said.
Jacqeline Joiner said the sirens from first responders brought her out of her Morgan Park home, and she was able to capture cell phone video.
"It's like 20 police cars. It was like, what's going on?!" she said. "I pray the kids are actually safe, that's like my first concern because the kids really didn't have nothing to do with what the adults had going on."
Witness Huell Collier said he saw the woman in the car on the ground and heard her talking to police after the crash.
"It was a lady sitting on the ground in handcuffs yelling, and so she was saying, 'Hey, I'm a good mama, mother and stuff, I caught a ride. I don't know these people,'" he said.
The sheriff said the two adults in the car are the parents of the two children who were in the car.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office said Chicago police are investigating the crash involving the parked vehicle.
The sheriff said criminal charges are pending, but no further information was being released at this time. He said a stolen vehicle is a felony offense and they do pursue them into other states, adding it's "unfortunate the driver refused to stop, with children in his car, putting them at risk" and that "it was impossible for officers to know they were inside."
