Crime & Safety

Tossing Stolen Cigarettes From Car, Thieves Crashed on I-80

Two Chicago men led Tinley Park police on a high-speed chase before they smashed into a light pole, police said.

Two Chicago men accused of beating up a clerk for nearly $700 in cigarette cartons before leading Tinley Park police on a high-speed pursuit that ended with a crash on I-80 now face face felony retail theft and aggravated battery charges, police said.

Shortly before 5 p.m. May 13, Egypt Gavin, 28, of the 7000 block of S. Laflin, Chicago, and Joe Cole, 53, of the 6100 block of S. Bishop, Chicago, stole $687.50 in Newport cigarettes from a tobacco shop on the 8000 block of 183rd Street, striking the clerk about the head and chest after he chased after them, police said. Officers found the men’s car at the intersection of Harlem and 191st Street and tried to stop them.

Instead of stopping, the men ran the light and sped off north on Harlem, passing other cars on the shoulder of the road as they headed to the I-80 on-ramp, according to police.

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Officers reported seeing the two men tossing cigarette cartons out the window onto the ramp. They lost control of the car during the merge and hit a lamp post, police said. They then took off on foot, losing the officers in the brush.

Police later found Gavin hiding under a car at the nearby Carmax lot and Cole trying to bury himself under the mud, brush and garbage in the ditch south of I-80, police said.

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Of the 12 cartons stolen, six were found in the car, two found lying in the road and four are still missing, police said.


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