Suspects Chased Over Blue Line Tracks, Across Ike
OAK PARK, Ill. (STMW) - Two Chicago men suspected of armed robbery were arrested early Monday following a foot chase across the Blue Line train tracks and the Eisenhower Expressway, police said.
A 23-year-old Forest Park man was heading home on a westbound Blue Line train at 3:38 a.m. when two men accosted him, according to Oak Park police reports. One man allegedly displayed a handgun and said, "Don't move, this is a robbery."
The other man allegedly took a cell phone from the victim's hand, then reached into the victim's pocket and removed a second cell phone. Both men got off at Oak Park Avenue.
The victim rode the train west to the Harlem Avenue stop, where he called 911 from a pay phone.
Responding police blocked off exits at Oak Park Avenue and East Avenue and found the two suspects still standing on the platform.
"They were apparently waiting for an eastbound train," said Oak Park police Detective Sgt. Mike Richardson.
When the two men saw police, one reportedly dropped the cell phones and gun on the platform and both men jumped onto the train tracks. They jumped off the tracks as a train approached, jumped over a fence and ran across the Eisenhower Expressway, narrowly missing getting hit by a truck, according to reports.
As police on the streets above the highway kept them in visual contact, the two ran up an embankment toward Harrison Street, east of the East Avenue bridge, where they attempted to hide. They were arrested without further incident.
The gun used in the alleged robbery was found to be a pellet gun.
Terrell L. Jones, 20, of the 5300 block of W. Crystal Street in Chicago, and Otire Woods, 22, of the 3300 block of W. Monroe Street in Chicago were identified and charged with armed robbery.
Richards said Chicago police are looking into the pair's possible involvement in "at least one incident in the city."
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