TOLLWAY WORKER FATALLY STRUCK BY TRUCK ON I- 294
A tollway worker was struck and killed by a semi truck Monday afternoon on I- 294 near south suburban Alsip.
At 12: 23 p. m., the 48- yearold was struck by a truck pulling a trailer while picking up debris along the right shoulder on southbound I- 294 near 127th Street, according to the Illinois Tollway. The semi driver drove off after sideswiping the worker and his vehicle.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the fatality but did not release the victim’s name.
“The Illinois Tollway extends its deepest sympathy to his family and friends,” a statement from the agency said.
Jordan Owen
Smash- and- grab burglars hit Wicker Park store
Thieves made off with several items during a smash- and- grab burglary early Monday at a Wicker Park neighborhood store.
Shortly before 2: 30 a. m., the burglars drove a red vehicle into the front glass of the store in the 1700 block of West North Avenue, according to Chicago Police. The suspects stole merchandise and jumped into two darkcolored vehicles, police said.
Ashlee Rezin
Prosecutors: Man caught driving victim’s car charged with murder
Aman charged with fatally shooting another man Saturdaymorning in the Southwest Side Gage Park neighborhood was caught driving the victim’s car later the same day, prosecutors said.
Anthony Culpepper, 18, faces one count of firstdegree murder in connection with the shooting of 21- year- old Maurice King, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
King was walking to his car at 10: 11 a. m. Saturday in the 2500 block of West 58th when Culpepper approached and fired shots that killed him, authorities said.
Culpepper was arrested six hours after the shooting while driving King’s gold Nissan Altima, Assistant State’s Attorney Julia Ramirez said at Culpepper’s bond hearing Monday.
Judge David Navarro ordered Culpepper, of the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, held without bond.
Sun-TimesWire
Chicago man charged with carjacking woman at gunpoint on Stevenson
A man who carjacked a woman’s vehicle on the Stevenson Expy. after a hit- and- run crash involving a state trooper last month has been arrested and charged, according to Illinois State Police.
Chicago resident Cassidy D. Pettis, 26, is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking for the Aug. 25 incident, according to ISP.
About 4: 15 p. m. that day, a trooper saw a red Volkswagen driving on the shoulder of I- 55 and exit at Damen in the McKinley Park neighborhood on the South Side, according to ISP.
But the driver of the vehicle, later identified as Pettis, “made an abrupt turn, changing his direction of travel and struck the trooper’s squad car,” ISP said in a statement.
The Volkswagen got back on the Stevenson going northbound, and as it approached the ramp to the Dan Ryan, “forced another vehicle to stop,” ISP said.
“Pettis exited his vehicle and displayed a handgun at the female driver of the vehicle. He then used the gun to break a window of the car. The female victim exited her car and Pettis fled the scene in her vehicle.”
After a three- week investigation, Pettis was identified as a suspect. On Thursday, Pettis was arrested and as being held without bond in the Cook County Jail on the Class X felony charge.
Jeff Mayes
Manwho drove car into train facing DUI charges
A man who drove a car into a train at a railroad crossing early Saturday in the Southwest Side Ashburn neighborhood is facing two misdemeanor DUI charges.
Esteban Alcala, 27, of West Lawn, was driving a white 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt west about 1: 50 a. m. in the 3500 block of West 87th when he “drove directly into a passing train,” Chicago Police said.
He suffered a cut to the head and was taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized, police said.
Luke Wilusz