Police nab suspect in Good Samaritan robbery
After a car-and-foot chase, Elgin police say they have taken a man into custody who, while behind the wheel of a van, lured a 26-year-old man into his vehicle by pretending he couldn't roll down the window and then robbed him at gunpoint.
Earlie Span, Jr., 45, is scheduled to appear in a Kane County bond court.
Span, who crashed the van into a parked car, was treated at Sherman Hospital in Elgin for nonlife threatening injuries and later released into the custody of police.
After crashing the van, Span attempted to flee on foot. Two officers chased him and arrested him, but not before they suffered injuries to hand and elbow. The officers were not hospitalized.
Span is charged with two counts of aggravated fleeing and eluding, two counts of resisting arrest, both Class 4 felonies, and reckless driving, a Class A misdemeanor.
He could spend more than a year in prison, authorities said.
Police said that at about 8:50 a.m., the victim was walking at Julian and North Grove avenues when the van approached him and the driver indicated he couldn't roll his window down.
The victim got into the van to help and the man drove off with him, police said.
At some point, the suspect lifted his shirt, revealing a black handgun, then ordered the victim to give him everything he had, police spokeswoman Sue Olafson said.
The robbery occurred at Cherry and Brook streets and the driver escaped with $100 in cash, Olafson said.
Once it was over, the suspect let the victim go unharmed, Olafson said.
The brown Chevrolet Astro van then was seen driving off, westbound on Cherry Street, Olafson said.
Olafson said police, while driving in the area of Kimball Street and Dundee Avenue, saw a van matching the description of the one involved in the robbery. She said they tried to pull the driver over, but he sped away.
Police then followed him and, as they were attempting to stop, him he fled, only to crash into a parked vehicle in the 1300 block of Royal Boulevard.
The chase then resumed on foot.