Two men face charges after police said they burglarized a Sam's Club in Elgin early Saturday, knocked down two officers with their vehicle and led authorities on a 125-mile chase into Wisconsin.
Police in the northwestern suburb responded to a burglary call at the store, at Randall Road and Bowes Road, about 2:42 a.m., according to a news release from the Elgin Police Department. Police arrived two minutes after the call and saw two men getting into a pickup truck.
One officer tried to take custody of one of the men before he had fully entered the vehicle but was knocked aside as the vehicle started moving, the release said. A second officer and an Elgin squad car were struck as the vehicle left the scene.
"We attempted to take the two offenders into custody, the two offenders ... fled the scene," Elgin Police Cmdr. Glenn Theriault said.
The two officers were treated and released from an local hospital after suffering non-life-threatening injuries, according to the release.
Responding officers gave chase, Theriault said, and the pursuit first went west to Muirhead Road before they doubled back. The two men the officers were chasing got on the Elgin-O'Hare Expressway and then Interstate 290, took that into the city before getting on the Kennedy Expressway north to the Edens, which they took all the way to Racine County.
Much of the chase passed through construction zones and over narrow and uneven portions of the interstate at speeds between 80 and 90 mph, police said.
The silver Chevy pickup attempted to exit Interstate 94 about 15 miles north of the Illinois border at Durand Avenue in Racine County about 4:15 a.m., police said. The suspects were taken into custody by the Wisconsin State Highway Patrol, according to the release, and are being held in Wisconsin.
Saturday night the Kane County state's attorney's office charged two men, according to another Elgin police release.
Truck driver Jacob Braden, 22, of the 800 block of Honey Locust Court in Bartlett, was charged with burglary, aggravated battery to a police officer, criminal damage to state supported property, and aggravated fleeing and eluding, police said. All the charges are felonies.
Passenger Kevin Gorman, 30, of the 1200 block of Lincoln Court in Streamwood, was charged with burglary, aggravated resisting arrest and criminal damage to state supported property, all felonies, police said.
The two men also will face charges in Wisconsin and are expected to have court appearances in Racine County on Monday, Elgin police said. At an appropriate time after that Kane County officials will seek extradition.
At the arrest scene early today, six police cars from the Wisconsin State Highway Patrol and Kenosha County Sheriff's office remained at the end of the exit ramp past 5 a.m. Saturday with the truck, which had extensive rear-end damage.
It appeared that at least one Kenosha County squad car hit spike strips used in the pursuit; it had two flat tires with spikes embedded in one of the front tires.
Police found close to two dozen car batteries in the bed of the pickup truck that they believe to be stolen.
The area surrounding the exit where the chase ended is not heavily populated and is surrounded by empty fields. Police closed the exit ramp from the northbound lanes.
At least one man was put into an ambulance after being pulled from the damaged truck once the chase ended, but he was returned to the scene by an ambulance about 5 a.m.
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McClatchy-Tribune News Service
