 |
| Approximate locations of the incidents. |
A couple of car thieves came up empty-handed Monday afternoon after they tried to steal vehicles from at least two drivers in the River North and Streeterville neighborhoods.
Shortly after 2 p.m., a would-be thief jumped into the driver’s seat of a man’s car as he was putting items in the vehicle’s trunk in the 1100 block of North State Street, police said. A bystander yelled out to the car’s owner, who managed to pull the offender out of his car before the thief could drive away.
About 15 minutes later, a woman was elbowed in the face by a man who tried to steal her car from a valet stand in the 300 block of East Erie. Bystanders intervened, and the offender escaped in a waiting vehicle.
Police said the thieves were getting around in a silver 2013 Chevrolet, possibly a Malibu, with darkened windows and a license plate that begins with AE266. The passenger-side brake light does not work. The driver and the man who tried to take the vehicles are both black men in their late teens or early 20’s who stood about 5’6” tall and wore plain black jackets, according to witnesses.
