Man faces gun, robbery, fleeing charges in West Chicago
A man has been accused of pointing a loaded gun at another man, then crashing into several vehicles while fleeing police investigating the incident Thursday afternoon in West Chicago.
Matt Waldow, 39, of the 200 block of Arbor Avenue in West Chicago, is charged with two counts of attempted armed robbery, one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, one count of reckless discharge of a firearm, and three counts of aggravated fleeing and eluding police. All are felonies.
It happened around 12:16 p.m. Thursday in the 100 block of Galena Street in West Chicago, according to a news release from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
Police were called by a man who said he had been sitting in his pickup truck in the driveway of a former business when a man approached and told him to leave the neighborhood.
The suspect showed a knife to the man, then pointed a gun at him and demanded that the man give him his cellphone, authorities said. The victim backed out of the driveway and left. He told police he saw the suspect enter a garage at the property.
Police tried to stop the suspect on Washington Street near Oakwood Avenue. Waldow is accused of driving a pickup truck through a red light, turning onto Ingalton Avenue, hitting a parked vehicle, then driving back onto eastbound Washington, merging onto Geneva Road.
They say he was driving 90 mph in a 45 mph zone, and hit several vehicles, before crashing into an electrical pole near the entrance of the Pleasant Ridge mobile home park.
Officers stunned Waldow several times with Tasers to gain control of him.
Police say they found a handgun in a garage near the business, and two knives in his truck — a 7-inch blade and a 14-inch blade.
The reckless discharge charge is connected to an April 4 incident. It is alleged that Waldow fired a handgun several times from an alley toward the 200 block of High Street. According to authorities, two bullet holes were found in the exterior of a house.
On Friday, a DuPage County judge ordered that Waldow be detained pretrial. His next court date is April 27.