Chicago Man Accused of Attempted Carjacking Soon After Being Put on Pretrial Release in Stolen Car Case

A man in Chicago, Illinois, is accused of an attempted carjacking that happened less than a month after he was placed on pretrial release regarding possession of a stolen vehicle as the area suffers under rampant crime.

CWB Chicago on Sunday identified the suspect in the case as 22-year-old Gregory King.

“Chicago police records show the man wasn’t even taken to court to see a judge after being arrested in the stolen car case because the SAFE-T Act allowed him to be sent home from the police station,” the outlet said.

An image shows the suspect:

King was arrested on the afternoon of March 15, 2024, when someone called 911 about an individual breaking into a vehicle and taking a seat inside a Range Rover on East 75th Street.

Officers located the Range Rover, pulled it over, and arrested the suspect as he tried to bail out. Approximately half an hour before the arrest, the car had been reported stolen.

King was released several hours after authorities charged him with possessing a stolen motor vehicle and a pair of misdemeanors for allegedly breaking into another car.

King is accused of trying to obtain another car via carjacking less than a month later.

In that case, a man got the attention of Chicago police officers in their squad car and told police two men tried to rob him and struck him in the face. The other man involved in the incident was not charged.

Police later stopped King, and the victim told them he was sitting inside his vehicle when the suspect allegedly demanded that he open the door before hitting him.

“King is charged with attempted vehicular hijacking and misdemeanor battery,” the CWB report said, adding, “Judge William Fahy detained him as a safety threat, pointing to the fact that he already had another felony case pending as one reason King should stay in jail.”

Social media users shared their thoughts on the report, one person writing, “Every decent, law-abiding, hard-working, taxpaying person in the city needs to come together and demand the SAFE-T be repealed and criminals start going to jail.”

“Pritzker the democrat governor of Illinois all proud of his SAFE-T Act. The pro-criminal anti-citizen anti-police act. Vote every Democrat out of office,” another user commented.

In February, a prostitute in the Chicago area was accused of carjacking a client at gunpoint before leading police officers on a high-speed chase, crashing into another car, then running from the scene, Breitbart News reported.