Woodridge man charged with leading police on chase

A 73-year-old Woodridge man faces felony charges after authorities said he first led police on a brief pursuit in Bensenville and later on a chase that ultimately ended in Lake County.

Thomas Philip is charged with four counts of aggravated fleeing or eluding a police officer, one count of misdemeanor driving without a valid driver’s license and one count of misdemeanor operating an uninsured vehicle.

A DuPage County judge on Thursday ordered that he be held in jail.

At about 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Bensenville police tried to conduct a traffic stop near the 400 block of W. Irving Park Road on a gold Lexus sedan for an expired registration. Instead of pulling over, the driver, later identified as Philip, fled from officers, disobeying a traffic light at York Road and Green Street, and drove into oncoming traffic on multiple occasions, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

After about four minutes, police ended the pursuit out of safety concerns.

At around 10:40 a.m., Bensenville police found the Lexus slowly driving through a strip mall parking lot. When one officer pulled up to the front bumper, Philip immediately reversed his vehicle, bumping into a second squad car, the state’s attorney’s office said in a news release.

Philip once again sped from officers, avoiding spike strips that officers attempted to deploy at the parking lot’s exit, and fled north on York Road, according to the release.

Philip ignored multiple red lights before driving on I-90 and making his way to north I-294, and he continued to flee authorities into Lake County, where he surrendered and was taken into custody near I-94 and Buckley Road in Lake Bluff after “being spike-stripped three times,” the release stated.

During the expressway pursuit, Philip reached speeds of roughly 90 to 100 m.p.h., but at times drove at low speeds, “which caused significant traffic congestion, the release added.

His next court appearance is scheduled for April 13.