A 20-year-old man suspected of belonging to a burglary crew targeting construction vehicles died Saturday morning after running from nearby police officers, jumping onto the Blue Line tracks, and coming into contact with the electrified third rail on Chicago’s West Side.
The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office on Sunday ruled his death an accident by electrocution. Authorities have not released his name.
Chicago police initially offered few details of the incident in a brief statement, saying officers responded to a person on the train tracks in the 5400 block of West Eisenhower Expressway around 10:06 a.m. A man was found unresponsive in a train tunnel, lying on the tracks, and was pronounced dead at the scene, the statement said, adding that detectives were conducting a death investigation.
But the chain of events began nearly an hour earlier.
At about 9:11 a.m., CPD received information that a stolen Acura SUV was pinging in the 5400 block of West Congress Parkway in the Austin neighborhood. When officers arrived moments later, they reportedly observed at least one man burglarizing a construction area. The man jumped into the trunk of the SUV, which sped away. CPD did not pursue the vehicle, according to a preliminary report.
But an officer in the Austin (15th) District surveillance center pulled up video feeds and reported the car was traveling west on Harrison Street with its trunk still open, according to police radio transmissions. A CPD supervisor ordered units in the area not to pursue.
At about 9:21 a.m., an officer on the radio reported seeing the SUV crash near the corner of Harrison and Lotus, with two men running from it toward the expressway. One man was last seen climbing into a Water Reclamation District facility. The other was not located until the CTA reported that one of its Blue Line trains may have struck a pedestrian near Lotus. Officers entered the tunnel and reported finding a man wearing a “Sheisty” ski mask and no shoes still in contact with the third rail.
Further investigation linked the stolen Acura to an earlier burglary of a construction vehicle in the downtown area, according to a police report.
Second City Cop, a blog that focuses on Chicago policing matters from a former CPD officers’ perspective, first revealed the connection between the death investigation and a burglary crew.
