Few details in shooting at Elgin toll plaza

The Chicago Police Department was releasing few details about a Tuesday night shooting near the Jane Addams Tollway's Elgin Toll Plaza that they say involved one of their officers and a man they caught selling drugs.

An officer, fearing for his partner's safety, shot the man in the chest and he was taken to Provena St. Joseph Hospital, officials said.

He remained in critical, but stable condition Wednesday, said Heather Gates, a hospital spokeswoman.

Chicago police say the man has not been charged and were not commenting beyond a news release.

According to the release, here's what happened:

Chicago police officers at 8:57 p.m. were in the midst of conducting a drug investigation and activated their lights and sirens to pull over a vehicle they saw in a narcotics transaction. But the vehicle kept going and began heading west on I-90.

Officers eventually stopped the car at I-90 and Route 31 in Elgin and told the man to get out of the car. He instead used his vehicle to hit one of the officers. The officer's partner fired his gun, hitting the suspect in the chest.

The Independent Police Review Authority investigates every shooting that involves Chicago police officers and is working to determine whether the shooting was warranted, police said.

Elgin and state police responded to a call for a shooting on I-90 near mile marker 25 in the westbound I-Pass lane around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.

Both officers, from the city's Grand Central District, were taken to a hospital with nonlife threatening injuries - it was not known how they were hurt or whether they were undercover officers.

Police say they recovered the suspect's drugs but would not divulge how much they confiscated or what sort of drugs they were.

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Amie Shak and Lee Filas contributed to this report