Several La Grange area schools were put on soft lockdown Thursday after a police chase ended in a crash on Plainfield Road near near Brainard Avenue.
Countryside police said Chicago police and U.S. Marshals were conducting surveillance in Lyons on a suspect wanted on federal and state probation violations, and a Chicago police alert for violent crimes.
The task force identified the suspect in a vehicle, possibly with three other people, and attempted to stop it, beginning a chase that went through Lyons and La Grange before ending in the crash on Plainfield Road, Countryside police said.
Mark Kraus of LaGrange Highlands was driving on Plainfield Road when the crash occurred.
“I saw huge puff of smoke. I heard the crunch. Then I saw police get out and start chasing people,” Kraus said.
Countryside police said occupants ran from the car, and three were captured, included the wanted subject. Witnesses said there may have been a fourth man who ran from the scene, and that prompted a search yard to yard in a three-block area.
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Police did not indicate if anybody was found, or if there was any determination whether a fourth person existed.
Area schools put on soft lockdown status, meaning outdoor activities do not take place and building access from the outside is restricted, included both campuses of Lyons Township High School, Spring Avenue Elementary, Gurrie Middle School, St. Cletus Catholic and St. John’s Lutheran, La Grange reported on its website.
Lyons Township High School reported the soft lockdown lifted at 3:10 p.m.
“Local police advised LT that there is no reason to remain in soft lockdown or cancel after school activities,” officials reported on the school’s website. “However, due to a continued police presence in the area bounded by Plainfield Road, Brainard Avenue, 55th Street and Willow Springs Road, LT is delaying buses to that region while we speak with those students who live in the affected area.”
The school urged students to remain alert as they make their way home.