A Chicago carjacking suspect was arrested after running from pursuing police officers but was then caught hiding in a dumpster behind a police dispatch building, according to CWB Chicago.
The suspect, Thomas Battle, 19, was already on juvenile parole for carjacking and robbery and is now charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. However, he is not facing any charges related to the carjacking.
According to prosecutors, the incident occurred before 6:00 p.m. on New Year’s Eve when officers received a report of a five-car crash involving a recently hijacked Cadillac SUV on the 12000 block of West Buren Street.
Two men allegedly fled from the crash scene, and Chicago Police Department officers started pursuing them.
While the other suspect could not be located, officers say they saw Battle jumping a fence with a gun. The 19-year-old was then found hiding in a dumpster while allegedly holding a loaded 40-caliber gun.
The dumpster that Battle was found in was behind the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications building where police dispatchers were giving cops information on his location, CWB Chicago reported.
Battle is being held on a $50,000 bond unless he posts ten percent and is placed on electric home monitoring.
Major crimes reported in Chicago rose by 41 percent due to a massive 102 percent increase in carjackings and a 56 percent increase in theft-related incidents, according to the Chicago Police Department.
Most of those carjacking incidents occurred earlier in the year and started decreasing considerably in November, Axios reported. The outlet noted that the carjacking crimes occurring earlier in the year were some of the city’s worst numbers ever recorded.
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