An Uptown surveillance system recorded video as two carjackers ran from a freshly-hijacked SUV and then let the unmanned stolen vehicle roll down the street with its doors open — until it crashed into a building Tuesday afternoon.
The footage, shared with CWBChicago by a reader, ends on a happy note as police escort one of the carjackers to a squad car in handcuffs.
The two offenders, ages 13 and 15, displayed a handgun and took the car from a 65-year-old woman as she unloaded groceries at her Rogers Park home in the 1200 block of West Farwell around 4 p.m., a CPD spokesperson said this week.
Officers quickly spotted the stolen car in traffic, but police supervisors ordered them not to follow or pursue the vehicle due to safety concerns.
A few minutes later, surveillance cameras captured video as the stolen car sped onto the 1100 block of West Leland in Uptown.
In the video, the SUV suddenly stops as its passenger bails out and runs away. The driver quickly follows suit. But the unoccupied car remains in drive and continues rolling along Leland Avenue with both doors open.
It ambles through an intersection, jumps a curb, and slams into
a building as stunned pedestrians look on.
A flood of police units quickly arrive to take both carjackers into custody.
Prosecutors charged each of them with felony aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and felony aggravated vehicular hijacking of a person over age 60.
Police did not release any other information about the teens because they are juveniles.
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