Police say hit-and-run driver was found hiding under car in garage

Bartlett police on Wednesday arrested a Carpentersville man accused of fleeing the scene of an accident then hiding under a vehicle in a home's garage.

Alexander J. Thornton, 27, is charged with felony criminal trespass to a residence and misdemeanor driving with a suspended license, leaving the scene of an accident and resisting or obstructing an officer, police said Thursday.

Police said officers were called at about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday about a crash at the intersection of Forest Preserve Drive and Munger Road.

Investigators say a 2009 Jeep Liberty was stopped while heading south on Munger and waiting to turn left onto Forest Preserve Drive when it was sideswiped by a 2003 Mercury Mountaineer. The impact sent the Mercury Mountaineer into the tree line east of Munger Road.

A witness told investigators the driver of the Mountaineer, whom police say was Thornton, ran through the forest preserve toward the Woodland Hills subdivision.

A search perimeter was set up with the help of Carol Stream, Wayne, DuPage County Forest Preserve and DuPage County Sheriff's police, and a drone was deployed to assist the search.

A Bartlett officer observed a man matching the driver's description near Schick and Quincy Bridge roads and attempted to stop him, but the man fled, police said. He later was found clinging to the undercarriage of a vehicle parked in the closed garage of a home in the Woodland Hills subdivision and taken into custody without incident, according to police.