Authorities: 14-year-old stole car with 88-year-old in back, drove her home

While a family member and friend made a quick stop at the neighborhood Walgreens, an 88-year-old woman waited in the back seat of the family car.

The doors unlocked and engine running, the car was the perfect target for a 14-year-old Park Ridge boy - who authorities say is responsible for stealing four other cars in Park Ridge in a little more than a month.

In his latest theft Wednesday night, when the teen got behind the wheel and sped off, he had a passenger in the back seat, authorities say. Upon realizing she was there, he dropped the woman off at her home before he continued his joy ride south into Chicago, where he was later apprehended, according to police.

"She was shaken up but unharmed," said Park Ridge Deputy Police Chief Lou Jogmen.

Authorities charged the 14-year-old boy Thursday with aggravated vehicular hijacking, which comes after he was previously charged and released - twice - for other auto thefts since Feb. 21.

The teen was arrested Feb. 23 by Chicago police on the city's Northwest Side after the theft of a 2012 Honda that had its engine running on Euclid Avenue in Park Ridge. Jogmen said the teen was released to his parents, since that first arrest alone didn't meet Cook County juvenile court's threshold for keeping him detained.

He was assigned a court date, but in the meantime, Park Ridge police say, the teen was suspected of three more vehicle thefts on Feb. 26, March 1 and March 5.

Park Ridge cops located and arrested him March 6 and charged him with three counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, one count of possession of cannabis, and fleeing from police on foot after he was observed in one of the stolen cars the day before.

An officer said he saw the teen and two other 14-year-olds racing two cars in a parking lot near Maine South High School. One of the vehicles is believed to have been stolen in Park Ridge, and the other from Buffalo Grove.

After the teen's arrest March 6, he was soon again released to his family.

"He didn't meet that threshold, believe it or not, with all the other things going on," Jogmen said.

The two other teens, one from Park Ridge and the other from Buffalo Grove, were arrested by Park Ridge police March 7-8. The teen from Buffalo Grove is also facing stolen motor vehicle charges there.

Fast forward to Wednesday about 6:50 p.m. in the parking lot of the Walgreens at 901 Touhy Ave. in Park Ridge. The family member and friend of the 88-year-old woman were in the store only a couple of minutes when they came back out to find the car and their loved one gone.

Police were called and surrounding law enforcement agencies notified. Investigators in an unmarked car, working leads based on the other recent car thefts, were near Belmont and Harlem avenues in Chicago when they saw the stolen 2015 Chevrolet Impala and alerted other cops in marked squads to pursue it. At the time, they didn't know if the 88-year-old woman was still in the car.

Chicago police stopped the vehicle near Austin and Lawrence avenues, where the 14-year-old boy was taken into custody without incident.

However, a Park Ridge officer en route to assist detectives was involved in a minor crash a few blocks away. The driver of the other vehicle was cited for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. The officer and a passenger from the other vehicle were treated for minor injuries at a hospital and released.

Jogmen said the teen, who is being held at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, has been cited by Park Ridge police four times previously for cannabis and local curfew violations.

• Daily Herald staff writer Mick Zawislak contributed to this story.