Chicago police on Friday located the carjacked SUV that they’ve been looking for in connection with a hit-and-run crash that left a bicyclist critically injured in Avondale on February 10, according to a CPD source.
Detectives released images of the hijacked Buick Enclave to the media this week. Cops found it abandoned behind a home in the 3100 block of North Christiana around noon yesterday — less than a block from where it was hijacked earlier in the month, the source said.
The Enclave was carjacked from a retail store parking lot on the 3300 block of West Belmont around 1:25 p.m. February 6, according to a CPD report.
A witness reported seeing a woman with pink hair drive away with the car while the victim’s 9-year-old son was still inside. The boy either jumped out of the car or was thrown from it as the hijacker drove away. He was not seriously injured.
Four days later, the SUV struck 31-year-old Alex Betzel as she biked northbound on Kimball just south of Addison, only a few blocks from where the carjacking took place.
“She lost a lot of blood, both her lungs were severely bruised and punctured by her ribs, causing them to fill with blood and one to collapse,” Betzel’s girlfriend said in a GoFundMe post. “She has nine broken ribs, with multiple being completely displaced, a broken cheekbone, and a laceration on her forehead.”
The alley where police found the Enclave abandoned Friday is about a half-mile from crash site.
Police continue to look for the driver and the hijacker. Anyone with information about them can contact CPD at 312-745-4521 regarding cases JE-134358 and JE-137961.
