Wheeling teen wasn’t trying to kill cop, police say

Authorities do not think a 17-year-old from Wheeling was trying to kill an Arlington Heights police investigator he struck with his car Saturday night.

Vladislav Pobyegayev, of the 1000 block of Valley Stream Drive, faces a charge of aggravated battery to a peace officer stemming from the collisions, but will not be charged with attempted murder.

“We would need to prove intent to have a charge like attempted murder,” Arlington Heights police Capt. Nicholas Pecora said Tuesday. “In reviewing the case with the state’s attorney, it was felt the appropriate charge was aggravated battery that caused harm to someone he knew to be a police officer.”

The fact that the officer’s injuries do not seem to be serious also enter into the considerations, said Pecora. The original diagnosis of the investigator’s injury was a severe leg muscle strain and bruising, but no broken bones. The officer later saw a specialist, but Pecora did not know Tuesday if any treatment besides rest would be required.

“The investigator was lucky he did not sustain a more serious injury,” said Pecora. “The driver was parked adjacent to another car. If he had turned his wheels a certain way the officer could have been crushed.”

The officer was injured about 10:30 p.m. Saturday when he and a second investigator were walking a woman charged with prostitution to a police car in the 2400 block of North Kennicott Avenue, said Pecora.

The investigators became suspicious when they saw Pobyegayev’s parked car with three other people inside. The injured officer approached to investigate. When he shined his flashlight in the car it looked like the occupants were dividing up drugs, said Pecora.

The officers identified themselves and told Pobyegayev to turn off the car. Instead, the Wheeling teen accelerated “at a high rate of speed” and struck the officer, who was thrown onto the hood of the vehicle, said Arlington Heights police Cmdr. Michael Miljan.

The driver then suddenly stopped and reversed while the officer remained on the hood of his car, hitting the windshield with his gun before being thrown from the vehicle, authorities said.

A Buffalo Grove police officer later saw the car driving down Dundee Road and followed it into Wheeling until she had backup to make a traffic stop, Pecora said.

After his arrest Pobyegayev told officers he tried to speed away from the scene because he had cocaine in the car and was afraid, prosecutors said. Drug charges are not pending because nothing was found at the time of the eventual arrest early Sunday morning, said Pecora.

Pobyegayev’s bail was set at $75,000, requiring him to post $7,500 to go free. He remained in custody at the Cook County jail Tuesday.