Cops find man accused of running SUV into Bensenville house
A man suspected of crashing an SUV into a Bensenville house and fleeing the scene earlier this week was arrested Thursday and charged with numerous misdemeanors.
Edvin Gomez-Garcia, 27, of 119 Bridget Court in Bensenville, was arrested after police searched the village for the suspect who had just moved to a new apartment.
Police Chief Frank Kosman said officers also searched at a fast-food restaurant where Gomez-Garcia was employed in Des Plaines, but he had not come to work for a week.
Gomez-Garcia was charged with nine misdemeanors by the DuPage County State's Attorney's Office, including reckless driving, driving without a license or insurance, criminal damage to property and illegal transportation of liquor.
Empty beer cans were found in the car, which crashed through the front wall and picture window of a home on the 700 block of Plentywood Lane around 9:45 p.m. Monday.
Gomez-Garcia was released after posting 10 percent of a $2,000 bond and will reappear in DuPage County Court at 9 a.m. July 22.
Jim Nierodzik, who lives in the home on Plentywood, thought he was dreaming when a noise that "sounded like a bomb" startled him awake Monday night.
"It happened around the time the storm was coming, and at first I thought a tree had come in through the skylight," he said earlier this week.
Nierodzik and another family member inside the house were unharmed. The driver fled the scene on foot before anyone saw him.
Kosman said the SUV also hit two other vehicles on Church Road and took down an electric pole before it ran into the house. The pole was still being held up with supports Friday.
"The car took out the bottom five feet of the pole and it was suspended by the electrical wires above it," said Bensenville Fire Battalion Chief Larry Karp, who responded to the scene Monday. "Wood was scattered all over the street."
The home on the 700 block of Plentywood Lane was boarded up and Karp said the damage estimate is $15,000. Residents did not have to leave the home.