Two Chicago men charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking were ordered held without bail Wednesday afternoon.
Davontae Jones, 18, and Jason Dortch, 19, both of the 2700 block of West Polk Street, were charged in a carjacking Monday night in the 800 block of North Racine Avenue. Police have said they suspect the pair may be connected to at least a dozen other carjackings over the past few days.
The armed pair is alleged to have approached two men Monday and demanded money and the keys to a Jeep Cherokee, according to police.
One of the victims initially refused to comply with the demand and was struck with a weapon, resulting in a head laceration, prosecutors said in bond court. The man then handed over the keys and $40.
After fleeing in the vehicle, the two led police on a chase on the Eisenhower Expressway in Oak Park, police said. During the chase, they are accused of hitting multiple vehicles, including a marked police vehicle, an unmarked FBI vehicle and a civilian vehicle, prosecutors said. Law enforcement officials suffered injuries, for which they were treated and released from the hospital, prosecutors said.
The two were arrested after striking a concrete wall and fleeing near the elevated tracks near the Austin stop, police said.
According to prosecutors, police also recovered a gun with an extended clip near an expressway median.
The cellphone of a third man, who was in bond court Wednesday on a separate case involving a charge of aggravated vehicular hijacking, was found in the Jeep.
Prosecutors said Terreon Gathings, 18, of Woodbridge, is accused of stealing a Lyft driver’s vehicle just after 4:20 a.m. Monday in the East Ukrainian Village neighborhood. Prosecutors said they had no evidence beyond the cellphone that the three men were working together.
Associate Judge Sophia Atcherson also ordered Gathings held without bail.
In another carjacking incident Wednesday, in Englewood, one man was killed and another critically injured when the stolen vehicle they were driving struck a semi and slammed into a retaining wall at 49th Street, according to police.
eolumhense@chicagotribune.com
Twitter @essayolumhense
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