Two teen boys are in custody after they drove away from Chicago police and crashed into a Niles police car, sending an officer to the hospital, Chicago police said.
Minutes after midnight Saturday, Chicago officers saw an SUV driving north at a “high rate of speed” on Northwest Highway from Oshkosh Avenue moments after a call came in for shots fired nearby, according to an email from Officer Patrick McGinnis, a Chicago police spokesman.
The officers saw an object thrown from the driver’s side of the SUV, thought it was a weapon, activated their emergency equipment and tried to stop the car, police said. The driver drove away, ultimately crashing into two Niles police vehicles, one marked and one unmarked, at the intersection of Oakton Street and Milwaukee Avenue, McGinnis said.
The SUV, a Ford Explorer, then stopped, according to Niles police.
Chicago police took two 16-year-old boys into custody about five minutes after the attempted traffic stop and took them to the 16th District station, with charges pending, McGinnis said.
A Niles police officer was transported to a local hospital. The officer is in good condition and was being held for observation, said Niles police Cmdr. Robert Tornabene. No other injuries were reported.
The item apparently thrown from the SUV has not been recovered, McGinnis said.
The two Niles police cars were in neighboring westbound lanes on Oakton Street, stopped at a red light, when the Ford Explorer turning east hit one of them, causing it to ram into the other, Tornabene said. One of them also hit another car, he said.