Search continues for suspect in Lombard drug-induced homicide
Police are still searching for a suspected drug dealer who led police on a crash-filled, high-speed chase Wednesday night from Lombard to Chicago.
The man is wanted in connection with what police are calling a drug-induced homicide in Lombard. The overdose victim was found around 2:30 p.m. Wednesday in a house.
DuPage County prosecutors, however, say no charges have been filed in connection with the pursuit or homicide.
Lombard and DuPage authorities have identified the deceased but have not yet released that information.
Lombard police investigating the death said they identified a person of interest in the case and found him driving a silver 2002 Pontiac Bonneville around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. When officers tried to stop him, the man fled, triggering the hourlong chase. Police eventually called off the pursuit after a pair of crashes in Chicago.
The suspect's vehicle was found Thursday morning abandoned in Bensenville. Bensenville Police Chief Frank Kosman declined to comment on the case other than to confirm that Bensenville officers secured the car until it was retrieved by Lombard officers.
Authorities said it was towed to the Lombard Police Department for processing.
Lombard police radioed for help with the pursuit at 9:43 p.m. when the suspect turned onto the Eisenhower Expressway. State police chased the man going east to Lake Shore Drive, where he turned north.
Chicago police spokeswoman Laura Amezaga said the suspect crashed into a city squad car, injuring two officers and a driver in another car. The three were taken to an area hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.
The suspect continued to flee, reaching speeds of more than 80 mph on Lake Shore Drive before exiting at Sheridan.
Amezaga said there was a second crash involving the suspect, a state police cruiser and a third vehicle on the 4200 block of north Ashland Avenue at 10:25 p.m. The state police cruiser struck the suspect's car, she said, which crashed into a civilian's car. The civilian's car ended up crashing through the window of a garden apartment near West Berteau Avenue and Ashland, Amezaga said.
The police officer was not injured in the second crash. The civilian was taken to Illinois Masonic Hospital in good condition with cuts and bruises.
No one was home at the time of the crash. The woman who lives in the apartment told ABC 7 her grandson usually stays in the room the car slammed into.
"But he was working," she said. "Thank God he was working."
Police called off the pursuit shortly after the second crash.