Four boys, youngest just 11, charged after crashing stolen car in Chatham, police say
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The four people in a car that crashed while trying to escape police in the Chatham neighborhood this week were all under the age of 18 – and one of them was just 11 years old.
The crash at 83rd and State streets also left an Illinois State Police trooper injured. There was still rubble left over in the road from the crash on Friday.
Chicago Police were called to the scene at 9:18 p.m. Thursday. Police said the driver of a stolen red Hyundai sedan crashed into a black car trying to get away from Chicago Police.
The driver of the black car was okay and refused medical attention.
The state police trooper was injured while assisting Chicago Police in arresting the youngsters, and was treated and released from an aera hospital, according to ISP. State police were not involved in the crash.
The four people in the stolen car were all kids. All four boys – an 11-year-old, a 13-year-old, a 15-year-old, and a 17-year-old – were arrested.
They were also taken to the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital in good condition with minor injuries.
The kids are all facing felony criminal charges.
The 13-year-old is facing felony charges of possession of a stolen vehicle, and fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer. The 15-year-old is charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle and resisting and obstructing arrest, and the 11-year-old and 17-year-old are each charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle.
We learned the stolen Hyundai was taken in Alsip. Alsip police did not provide any information Friday, but this is part of the staggering increase in stolen Kias and Hyundais we have tracked closely for months here at CBS 2.
Oftentimes, juveniles are the thieves.
This also was not the first time, just this month, that one of the thefts resulted in injured law enforcement officers.
Earlier this month, a 17-year-old boy was charged in a crash at 38th Place and Cottage Grove Avenue in Bronzeville - in which a stolen Kia ran into two Chicago Police officers. The crash pushed the officers' unmarked squad car into a building.
CBS 2's Tara Molina asked the Cook County State's Attorney's Office about this case involving kids as young as 11, and what is being done to address the theft problem in general - especially with the spike in Kia and Hyundai thefts.
There was no response to those questions late Friday.
