WEST PULLMAN — A police chase that began in Tinley Park ended violently in Chicago Friday morning when a car full of alleged armed robbers crashed into a police SUV, injuring eight people including four police officers.
None of the officers suffered life-threatening injuries. All four were in the SUV that was hit by the other car at the intersection of 124th and Union in the West Pullman neighborhood, according to Chicago Police Deputy Supt. John Escalante.
The chase began after an armed robbery at a Tinley Park restaurant, Escalante said.
The chase spilled into Chicago, and CPD was asked for assistance catching the four men in the car.
Witnesses said the car being chased slammed into an unmarked police SUV, which then careened into a corner home, destroying a metal wheelchair ramp leading into that home.
The car being chased rolled over and ended up on its roof. All four men in the car being chased were injured, two with life-threatening injuries, Escalante said.
West Pullman residents had mixed feelings about high-speed police chases in their neighborhood.
Kimberly Ward has lived in West Pullman for 40 years. She saw the police cars speeding down the street and wanted to know what was going on.
"I live two blocks from here. It's unfortunate that it had to come to this," Ward said. "They[Police] do these high-speed chases through here all the time."
Ward says that the police and the community ought to work together to make sure that incidents like this don't happen again.
"I think the law has to work with us and we have to work with the law. It's not always the police and it's not always the youth," Ward said. "We have to work together to build our communities up."
A West Pullman resident, who did not want to be named because the crime scene tape was next to his home, told DNAinfo that the chase should've been called off because it happened in a residential neighborhood.
"It f--ked up that they came through the neighborhood like that," the resident said. "There's kids playing in the street.
9 injured in Far South Side crash involving officers, house: https://t.co/n71SSemF1E pic.twitter.com/Fn7cftU7HA
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) July 1, 2016
CPD assisted outside jurisdiction in a car chase. Offenders collided w/ CPD. Officers in stable condition. Offenders in critical.
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) July 1, 2016
UPDATE: 4 OFFENDERS IN CUSTODY. ALL OFFENDERS WERE INJURED. 2 CRITICAL. 4 CPD OFFICERS WERE IN ONE CAR. INJURED BUT STABLE
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) July 1, 2016
UPDATE: INCIDENT WAS A ROBBERY ORIGINATING FROM TINLEY PARK.
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) July 1, 2016
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