A West Chicago man is in custody after allegedly pointing a firearm at a man sitting in his truck and demanding his cell phone Thursday afternoon.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin and West Chicago Chief of Police Colin Fleury announced Friday that Judge Joshua Dieden has granted the State’s motion to deny pre-trial release for the 39-year-old man, a felon, who has been charged with two counts of Attempt Armed Robbery (a Class 1 Felony); one count of Unlawful Possession of a Weapon by a Felon (a Class 3 Felony); one count of Reckless Discharge of a Firearm (a Class 4 Felony); and three counts of Aggravated Fleeing and Eluding a Police Officer (a Class 4 Felony).
According to authorities, on Thursday at approximately 12:16pm, West Chicago police officers were dispatched to a building on the 100 block of Galena Street for a call of a man with a gun. Following an investigation, it is alleged that the suspect had approached a man who was sitting in his truck and told the victim that he was “in his neighborhood” and that he should leave. The suspect then showed a knife to the victim, finally pointing a black handgun at him and demanded his cell phone. The victim backed out of the driveway and fled the scene.
The suspect then returned to the building on Galena Street before fleeing the area in a White Dodge Ram pickup truck. A short time later, a West Chicago police officer located the Dodge on eastbound Washington Street near Oakwood Avenue and initiated a traffic stop. Instead of stopping, the suspect fled eastbound on Washington Street, ignoring a red light at Washington Street and Main Street. This initiated a long car chase during which the Dodge reached speeds of 90mph and collided with several cars before before finally crashing into a ComEd power pole near the entrance of Pleasant Ridge, a mobile home park located on Geneva Road.
At that time, the suspect exited the Dodge and was taken into custody after a brief struggle that ended when he was tazed by officers. After obtaining search warrants for the Galena Street building and attached garage and the suspect’s Dodge, officers allegedly recovered a black Ruger handgun from the garage and located two knives from the Dodge, one with a fourteen-inch blade and the other with a seven-inch blade.
“The allegations that [the suspect], a convicted felon, approached an innocent man sitting in his vehicle, pointed a loaded weapon at him, demanded the man’s cell phone and then proceeded to lead authorities on a dangerous high-speed chase that ended after he struck several vehicles and crashed into a power line pole are outrageous,” Berlin said. “I have been sounding the alarm the past several years that it is only a matter of time before our luck runs out and someone is seriously injured or killed as a result of a defendant attempting to flee from the police. No one should lose their life because another individual mistakenly believes they can outrun the law and throughout DuPage County, law enforcement is committed to bringing an end to this epidemic before that happens.”
