Chicago police were still searching Sunday afternoon for two suspects who led them on a short chase along Lake Shore Drive earlier in the day, driving an SUV that had been reported stolen from Hammond.
Hammond police spokesman Michael Jorden said his department responded to a call of a reported carjacking at 3:42 a.m.
The caller initially said a friend had taken the GMC Yukon, but later claimed not to know the friend’s name, Jorden said.
Police were able to track the vehicle using a global-positioning system on the Yukon. Illinois State Police Master Sgt. R. Gann said Hammond police called his department after the suspects crossed into Illinois at about 4:30 a.m.
Using the tracking system, police monitored the Yukon as it turned off of Interstate Highway 294 onto Interstate Highway 55. Gann said a trooper spotted the vehicle driving inbound on I-55 near Halsted Street, and began following the vehicle.
“They were not speeding excessively,” Gann said. “They were not doing anything outrageous.”
The suspects followed I-55 onto northbound Lake Shore Drive, where a Chicago police officer pulled his squad car in front of the Yukon, Gann said.
The SUV driver came to a stop, but then accelerated abruptly, Gann said.
The driver continued on Lake Shore to the intersection at Balbo Drive. There, Gann said, the driver turned into the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive and continued driving north, against traffic.
The driver stopped the SUV in the roadway near Ontario Street, and two suspects ran off, Gann said.
Several witnesses indicated to police the suspects had run into the nearby W Hotel, he said.
Police searched the hotel and the adjacent parking garage, but did not find the men.
Jorden said that although the incident was reported as a carjacking, “there seem to be some discrepancies.”
He said the SUV was recovered, but the suspects remained at large.
———
jyates@tribune.com
