Cops on the South Side recovered a vehicle that was taken in a carjacking along the Lakeview-Lincoln Park border early last Sunday. The man who was driving the car when cops found it has been charged.
Around 1:20 a.m. on April 22, two women had just stepped out of a 2011 Ford Focus in the 1100 block of West Diversey when four offenders approached them, pointed handguns at their faces, and announced a robbery. The victims, ages 19 and 21, turned over their wallets, phones, and keys to their car.
Now, cops say 19-year-old John Carew was arrested after he was found driving the carjacked vehicle in the 6400 block of South Martin Luther King Drive around 8:15 p.m. on Monday.
Carew is charged with felony aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle and possession of 10- to 30 grams of cannabis. He is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail.
So far, no one has been charged with the actual carjacking.
Some Chicago politicians are hoping to strengthen laws against carjacking and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
“When somebody is stopped today [after] police pursuit of a stolen car, what often people are saying is, `I borrowed it from somebody else.’ Or, `I got it from somebody. I don’t know his name.’ Or they say nothing,” Walter Katz, [Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s] deputy chief of staff for public safety [told the Sun-Times in February].
“The evidence is really clear based upon the person’s actions that they had a clear intent to have this stolen car. That’s what we’re trying to go after.”
Katz noted that the current law requires proof that the person in possession of the stolen car “knew it was stolen.”
“We’re trying to address that issue by providing more tools for prosecution to hold such folks accountable,” he said.
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