In the early hours of Wednesday, north suburban Mundelein became the unlikely stage for a low-speed police chase involving a blood-covered truck driver. As reported by WGN-TV, officers responded to a 911 call around 2:15 a.m. regarding a person possibly shot in a parking lot. Instead, they found a scene from which a black pickup truck, its driver smeared with blood, tried to escape. A futile set of stop-and-start attempts to evade police ensued, finally ending in a truck-to-squad car collision.
The chase culled the night's stillness as officers from Mundelein and the Lake County Sheriff's Department were lured into a pursuit that saw the truck graze through speeds before the inevitable impact. According to Fox 32 Chicago, the truck hit a sheriff’s squad car assisting Mundelein officers at the intersection of Route 60/83 and Diamond Lake Road. In the aftermath, the driver, continuing his escape attempts on foot, was quickly apprehended.
Following the chase, the driver was hospitalized with injuries later disclosed by police as self-inflicted, debunking earlier assumptions of a shooting. Three officers, two deputies, and one Mundelein police officer sustained minor injuries during the incident and received treatment at an area hospital. Authorities have not yet released the identity of the driver or announced pending charges.
The Lake County Major Crash Assistance Team is looking into the crash involving the deputy's car, and the Mundelein police are untangling the chase's finer points. Both accidents have been isolated, with police assuring the public of no further danger.
