A man who crashed a stolen vehicle after attempting to elude police and then fleeing was recovering Monday in a Cook County Jail medical center, police said.
Thomas E. Nielsen, 26, whose last known address is 515 N. Green Oaks Ct., Addison, was wanted on six outstanding warrants, four of which are felony warrants with no bond out of Janesville, Wis., police said.
Nielsen is charged in Arlington Heights with possession of a stolen vehicle, two counts of criminal damage to property and one count of aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude a police officer. Bond was set at $50,000.
The incident began in Arlington Heights around 2 a.m. Thursday. While on patrol, police conducted a computer check on a 1996 Pontiac Grand Am that Nielsen allegedly was driving on Algonquin Road. Police subsequently discovered that the car had been reported stolen from Daytona Beach, Fla., in May and that its Illinois plates also had been reported stolen in May, authorities said.
When police activated their emergency lights, the driver pulled over to let out a passenger, then sped off. Police from Arlington Heights and later Elk Grove Village pursued the vehicle, until it crashed and became impaled on some construction equipment near Devon Avenue and York Road, authorities said.
Nielsen allegedly fled, leaving behind various forms of identification that reportedly had been stolen in purse snatchings, police said. Nielsen managed to elude police, despite having suffered a broken kneecap, broken elbow, and a sprained ankle and back in the crash, police said.
Nielsen was arrested Friday in Northlake by Arlington Heights and Northlake police.