A man with gunshot wounds to his head and back and a small child in the backseat of his car drove away from police before crashing outside a North Riverside bar Monday night, according to new details released by the Forest Park Police Department.
The unnamed man was apparently injured during a shooting near eastbound Interstate 290 and the Desplaines Avenue ramp around 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 22. When Forest Park police arrived, responding to a call of shots fired, they found a Chevrolet Impala stopped in the 800 block of Desplaines with the driver’s side door open.
An officer approached the Impala with his gun drawn and ordered a man in the driver’s seat to show his hands. When that man stuck his head and hands out of the car, the officer saw that the man was bleeding from his head.
For unknown reasons, the man then ducked his head back in the car and drove off. Forest Park police pursued the Impala before “it appeared the driver was no longer in control” and the car drifted across Desplaines Avenue, according to a police report. The Impala came to a stop after crashing between a light pole and Bar-Tini Lounge at 2433 Desplaines Ave. in North Riverside.
A pair of officers again approached the vehicle with guns drawn and saw a man slumped over the center console. They also saw a young child, believed to be around 5 years old, screaming and crying in the back seat. The child was able to unlock the doors and was removed from the car, apparently unharmed.
The man in the front seat, however, was “dead weight” and had his left leg pinned under the steering wheel. Officers eventually extricated him from the car and performed first aid on the sidewalk before he was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with “serious injuries,” according to Illinois State Police.
Forest Park police said the man had gunshot wounds to his head and back.
Dashcam and bodycam videos of the incident have been turned over to the Illinois State Police, the lead investigative agency because the shooting apparently occurred on the highway or the exit ramp.
Illinois State Police did not provide an update on Nov. 24, saying the investigation is ongoing.