Loop: Carjacker steals car with woman in back seat, then lets her go 10 miles away

A crashed Pontiac sits on the DuSable Bridge at Michigan Avenue after this morning’s crash.

A woman escaped injury overnight when a carjacker stole a vehicle in the Loop with her sitting in the back seat. The offender then drove the woman for more than 10 miles before letting her out at South Side gas station, according to police.

It all started around 12:30 a.m. Saturday, when cops tried to pull over a Pontiac for running a red light near Wacker Drive and Michigan Avenue, police said. Four men ran from the Pontiac after it struck another car nearby. 

One of the men jumped into a 2014 Kia van that was idling near the Hyatt Regency Hotel and sped onto Lake Shore Drive with a 20-year-old woman in the back seat. The woman finally got away after the man pulled into a gas station on the 5900 block of South Ashland a short time later. She was not injured.

Officers found two handguns and spent shell casings inside the Pontiac that the men abandoned on Wacker Drive, police said. Investigators are trying to determine if the car or guns were used in any recent shootings.

A man who allegedly ran from the crashed Pontiac was arrested behind the Hyatt, but the others remain at large.

Area Three detectives are investigating.

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CWBChicago was created in 2013 by five residents of Wrigleyville and Boystown who had grown disheartened with inaccurate information that was being provided at local Community Policing (CAPS) meetings. Our coverage area has expanded since then to cover Lincoln Park, River North, The Loop, Uptown, and other North Side Areas. But our mission remains unchanged: To provide original public safety reporting with better context and greater detail than mainstream media outlets. Our editorial email address is news@cwbchicago.com