A 19-year-old man has been charged in connection with a series of carjackings on Monday in which Uber drivers were attacked with stun guns. Prosecutors charged Bicarius Young with one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking for a hijacking in Logan Square, but they told a bond court judge that he’s “believed” to have committed three other hijackings the same day.
Young and an accomplice were captured on video as they ordered take-out food from a Thai restaurant on the 2900 block of North Sawyer and then climbed into an Uber that they summoned under the user name “Lil Split,” prosecutors said.
As they approached their destination, Young and the other man allegedly tazed the 56-year-old driver on both sides of his body and ordered him out of the car. The accomplice pushed the man to the ground before driving away with his black Toyota Highlander.
Young would later admit to crashing the Highlander when he spilled his Thai food and became distracted while driving it, according to prosecutors.
Police in suburban Harvey arrested Young at a gas station Tuesday after they saw him getting out of a car that was taken in another hijacking, prosecutors said. Another man who was with him escaped.
“It is believed that this defendant committed three other vehicular hijackings involving a Taser on the day of this incident,” a prosecutor told Judge Arthur Willis during Young’s bond hearing Thursday. But Wills said he would not consider those allegations because Young is not charged with the crimes.
Young was adjudicated delinquent as a juvenile for robbery in 2019, the prosecutor said. His public defender said he grew up as a ward of the state.
Willis denied the state’s request to hold Young without bail. Instead, the judge set bail at $500,000. Young would need to post a $50,000 deposit to get out of jail.
Before Young was arrested, Chicago police issued a community alert that linked four hijackings of ride-hail service drivers to a two-man team that attacked their victims with stun guns Monday. In addition to the case Young is charged with, police said drivers were carjacked on the 9700 block of South Princeton at 7:59 p.m., the 2600 block of North Mozart at 9:30 p.m., and the 3500 block of West Ohio at 11:18 p.m.
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