GURNEE, Ill. (WGN) — A 34-year-old Gurnee man is in custody after a series of hit-and-run crashes and a police pursuit Tuesday evening that left several people, including two children, injured.
According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, dispatchers received a call just before 6 p.m. reporting a hit-and-run near a gas station in the 36000 block of Grandwood Drive in unincorporated Gurnee. Witnesses told police the suspect had struck a vehicle and fled the scene.
A short time later, authorities say the same driver crashed into a second vehicle in the gas station parking lot before fleeing again. Witnesses reported the suspect appeared to be bleeding and was driving “erratically.”
A Lake County Sheriff’s deputy located the suspect’s vehicle and attempted a traffic stop. The driver did not comply, initiating a pursuit.
During the chase, the suspect sideswiped two vehicles at the intersection of Stearns Road and Hunt Club Road, causing minor injuries to one driver.
The pursuit continued eastbound and then southbound on Route 21. At the intersection of Route 21 and Gages Lake Road, police say the suspect ran a red light and t-boned a vehicle that was making a left turn. Four people in the vehicle, including two children, sustained non-life-threatening injuries.
The suspect then struck another vehicle driving northbound, causing non-life-threatening injuries to that driver as well.
The chase came to an end when a deputy used their squad car to disable the suspect’s vehicle.
The suspect was taken into custody and transported to a local hospital. Charges against him are currently pending as the investigation continues.
