LOGAN SQUARE — A man is facing charges after police say he fled a shooting and crashed a stolen car in Logan Square Wednesday evening.
Donaciano Chavez, 25, of the 1600 block of North Springfield Avenue, was charged with one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to vehicles, driving on a suspended license and damage to public property, according to Officer Jose Estrada, a Chicago Police Department spokesman.
[Provided photos/Josh Hecker]
Chavez was also issued two traffic citations for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and driving without headlights, Estrada said.
The incident started around 10 p.m., when officers responded to call of shots fired at Armitage and Kildare avenues, according to Estrada. The officers arrived to find a 2000 Honda sedan without its headlights on speeding down the 4000 block of West Armitage Avenue, traveling eastbound.
The officers lost the car in a chase, but later discovered that it had crashed into two parked cars and a light pole in the 2300 block of North Central Park Avenue, according to Estrada.
The three passengers, two 26-year-old men and one 25-year-old men, were brought to local hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. Police could not provide their condition, saying only that they were "stable."
Chavez was charged, but released on a recognizance bond. He is next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 20, according to Estrada.
Police determined, through further investigation, that the car was stolen from Downstate Elmwood, near Peoria.
One of the passengers denied any involvement in a shooting, saying they were on the way to the bank so the driver could pay him for an auto repair.
Josh Hecker, 34, was eating dinner with friends when he heard the loud crash and then police yelling, "Show me your hands! Don't move!"
As it turned out, Hecker's car, which was parked on the street, was hit in the crash. But it didn't suffer any significant damage — only alignment issues.
The Honda, however, was in bad shape, according to Hecker.
"I'm honestly surprised anyone walked away from it. The front of the car was pulverized into the street. The back end was two feet in the air," he said.
