Forest Park police were able to recover a 2016 Kia Rio hijacked from a pizza delivery man on the night of Aug. 5 in the 7200 block of Jackson Boulevard, but the person responsible for stealing the vehicle was able to elude police after ditching the car in an alley on Chicago’s West Side following a police pursuit.
The victim, a 44-year-old Chicago man, waved down a police officer at Thorntons gas station at about 10:15 p.m., saying he’d just been carjacked and pointing to his vehicle, which was heading east on Jackson approaching Harlem Avenue.
The officer gave chase and followed the stolen vehicle east on I-290 to Austin Boulevard, where it exited and sped north to Washington, where it began snaking down various side streets attempting to lose the police officer in pursuit, and kept going even after colliding with another vehicle at the intersection of Long and Ohio.
Police finally lost sight of the Kia near Lotus Avenue and Huron Street, where a bystander told police the vehicle had turned down an alley. Police located the stolen vehicle abandoned in the alley behind Brooklyn Deli, 5431 Chicago Ave.
The victim told police he was waiting outside his vehicle for a customer to come out for a pizza when a man attempted to enter his vehicle. The delivery man began swinging his pizza box at the offender, who started yelling, “Get back, get back, I got a gun!”
The offender never displayed a weapon, but the delivery driver backed off, at which time the offender got into the vehicle and drove off.
Police later learned that the stolen vehicle had struck another car at Jackson and Harlem at the beginning of the pursuit.
