Southwest Side crime spree ends in deadly crash during police chase
CHICAGO (CBS) -- An innocent woman is dead after a crime spree Wednesday night on the Southwest Side ended with the four suspects crashing into the victim's car as they were being chased by police.
Police said four people, all now in custody, carjacked two women, set a pickup truck on fire, and ended up crashing into a 55-year-old woman's car, killing her. This also involved a police chase.
Just before 4 p.m., four people carjacked a woman near 34th Street and Claremont Avenue in McKinley Park, just off the Stevenson Expressway, according to police. Next, they carjacked another woman about two miles north in Pilsen, in the 1900 block of West 21st Place, before returning to McKinley Park -- this time at 3410 S. Leavitt St. about a block and a half from the carjacking scene -- where they tried to set fire to a pickup truck they had stolen earlier.
Police said the carjackers got away in a black Honda, and that's when a police chase apparently began, with officers trailing the offenders south on Western Avenue.
According to police dispatch reports, the chase reached speeds of 60 mph.
The chase continued to 31st Street and Kedzie Avenue in Little Village, where police said the offenders crashed into a Toyota, driven by an innocent woman. That woman, 55-year-old Dominga Flores, was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Police were able to arrest all four suspects, and recovered two weapons from their vehicle. Charges were pending Thursday.
Meanwhile, we looked into the Chicago Police Department's official policy on police pursuits. The policy spells out a so-called balancing test.
Officers are to consider whether the need to immediately apprehend outweighs the level of inherent danger created by the pursuit itself. They are to evaluate speeds involved, pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the area, and weather and road conditions.
Chicago Police said late Thursday that the Civilian Office of Police Accountability is investigating because the pursuit and crash involved a death. Police say one reason they were pursuing the group is because they may have been involved in other crimes.
