A Lyft driver has become at least the third person to be carjacked in the Loop this week. State police later pursued the stolen car and took its five occupants into custody.
The victim picked up give men at a Streeterville hotel around 4 a.m. and began driving them to their destination, according to a CPD report. Everything was normal until they arrived at the Chicago Athletic Association Hotel, 12 South Michigan, a few minutes later.
At least one passenger displayed a handgun and ordered the driver to get out of his Lexus RX30. He complied, and the offenders drove away with the SUV.
Illinois State Police troopers spotted the car about 30 minutes later on the Dan Ryan Expressway near 33rd Street and began pursuing the vehicle. The chase continued on expressways and toll roads throughout the area until a trooper used a “PIT maneuver” to stop the car near the 1100 block of West Jackson around 6:10 a.m.
Troopers, Chicago police, and officers from the UIC Police Department arrested six people, some of whom ran from the scene, according to a report.
Police have not yet announced charges.
Saturday’s hijacking is the third since Tuesday in the Loop:
- A man forced a 53-year-old woman from her Lexus SUV as she waited for a red light to change at State and Washington around 1:03 a.m. Friday. He has not been arrested.
- On Tuesday evening, a group of hijackers carjacked a pregnant 26-year-old woman at gunpoint inside a parking garage on the 100 block of North Dearborn. Police stopped the car in Indiana. They arrested two juveniles and recovered a loaded handgun, CPD said.
There have been nine carjackings in the Loop so far this year, up from three at this point in both 2020 and last year. The Loop did not have any carjackings reported by April 8, 2019, according to the city’s data.