11-Year-Old Charged In Beating, Carjacking Is Part Of Trend Of Children Carjacking With Adults
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An 11-year-old boy is charged in a beating and carjacking on Chicago's North Side over the weekend. The CBS 2 Investigators have been tracking of children caught carjacking with adults.
In this case, the 11-year-old was with a 19-year-old man when police say they punched the driver in the face repeatedly and stole his keys. CBS 2 Investigators uncovered dozens of carjacking cases in recent years where adults and juveniles have been working together.
Prosecutors said end of the incident was captured on cell phone video. John Daniels, 19, an 11-year-old boy and another person approached the 59-year-old victim as he was getting something from his trunk in the Buena Park neighborhood Saturday. One of them punched him in the face, breaking his orbital bone.
Police say Daniels then took the keys from the victim and they drove off.
Two hours later, a license plate reader identified the victim's vehicle as being stolen. Officers followed. Daniels crashed the victim's vehicle into a metal fence and they were eventually captured.
"I don't have any specific information as to whether that 11-year-old was recruited," said Chicago Police Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan. "He's with a 19-year-old. "I'm not going to talk about his cognitive behavior, but he was with a 19-year-old when it happened."
According to data obtained by the CBS 2 Investigators through the Freedom of Information Act, since 2015 Chicago Police have handled at least 65 cases in which an adult was arrested with a juvenile for carjacking. There were nine such reports in 2020. And so far in 2021 there have been at least five.
Deenihan said that with suspects this young, they're trying to focus on the root of the problem.
"The superintendent was talking about making sure that people like the 11-year-old have services rendered to them in order to change their behavior," Deenihan said.
A Cook County judge denied bail for Daniels Monday. Prosecutors said he had a pending felony theft case for which he failed to appear in court. He also had a prior carjacking case in February, but the victim declined to pursue charges.
The judge said he denied bond, in part, because of Daniels' involvement with that 11-year-old boy saying, you "…have a responsibility as an adult in our society to lead young men like that on the straight and narrow path. The example you set on that date was not one of good. It was one of malice."
That 11-year-old boy will face charges here in juvenile court but his first appearance won't be until next month.
Just Monday a 16-year-old was in juvenile court. Prosecutors also allege that teenager worked with an adult to carjack a 30-year-old woman at gun point in the Bridgeport neighborhood on May 8. That teen is being held in custody until his next court date.
The CBS 2 Investigators did some more digging. Just in the first 17 weeks of 2021, there have been 543 carjackings in Chicago. That is more than double the same period last year.
