Road Rage Rampage: Wanted Wisconsin Man Repeatedly Rammed Car On Route 41, Cops Say

LAKE FOREST, IL — Police said they have identified the pickup truck driver who ran another driver off the road last month in Lake Forest as a Wisconsin man with an arrest warrant and a lengthy history of fleeing from police.

Thomas Walker, 39, of Palmyra, was driving a Dodge Ram south on Route 41 that witnesses said he appeared to intentionally rear-end an Infiniti sedan on the morning of June 3, according to police.

Walker, who had been driving recklessly prior to the crash, struck the Infiniti several times before it was forced off the road and into the trees to the west side of the highway, police said.

The driver and a passenger were both trapped inside, and Lake Forest Fire Department crews had to extricate them before they could be taken to Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital with moderate injuries.

Police determined that the truck had continued south on Route 41 after the crash past an automated license plate reader, or ALPR, camera operated by the city. Footage from hospital security video also showed the same truck fleeing through the hospital's property before heading north on Waukegan Road, according to police.

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That evidence led investigators to Walker, who has a long criminal history, has frequently evaded police and had a revoked driver's license in both Illinois and Wisconsin. One of the people in the Infiniti also was able to identify Walker as the driver.

The truck was found on June 5, abandoned in North Chicago. Police found witnesses and footage from nearby businesses that showed Walker leaving the Dodge on the day of the crash.

Records show Walker was arrested in Waukegan on June 4 and charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, theft of between $500 and $10,000, aggravated fleeing or eluding and criminal damage to $500 to $10,000 worth of property in connection with a separate incident, on top of the arrest warrants he already had.

Walker also faces seven other felonies and six misdemeanors, including attempted residential burglary, criminal trespassing to a residence and burglary, for offenses that allegedly occurred in Waukegan on June 16 and June 28.

Sheriff's office records indicate he has 40 pending charges in Lake County alone.

Lake Forest police questioned Walker after he was already in the custody of the Lake County Sheriff's Office and reported that he admitted that he was driving the Dodge when it collided with the Infiniti.

Prosecutors approved two counts of leaving the scene of an injury crash and one count each of aggravated battery and aggravated assault, and Walker was served with the charges while in custody at the Lake County Jail in Waukegan.

Police said more charges could still be filed over the Lake Forest incident. Walker is due back in court on his Waukegan charges on July 23.