Driver In Crash Flees Then Returns To Scene, Is Arrested: Police

MOKENA, IL — Residents on a quiet dead end street in Mokena had their evenings disrupted when a red Dodge pickup truck came barreling down their block and crashed in the woods at the end of the street, multiple eyewitnesses told Patch.

The crash happened at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday in the 11000 block of West First Street in Mokena, according to the Will County Sheriff's Office. Several residents of the block were outside enjoying the evening when they saw the pickup come down the street at a high rate of speed, eyewitnesses told Patch.

Brent Laxton, 28, was arrested and charged with multiple misdemeanors, including hit and run, resisting arrest, failure to report an accident, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, and operation of an uninsured motor vehicle, according to Mokena Police Department Commander Christopher Carlson.

Laxton was also charged with a violation of a local ordinance for possession of cannabis, Carlson said.

Laxton had multiple addresses listed, with the most recent being in Matteson, Carlson said.

A sheriff's deputy was at a red light at the intersection of Wolf Road and Front Street when the railroad crossing arms activated and started to come down, according to the Will County Sheriff's Office. The deputy saw Laxton's pickup truck heading northbound on Wolf Road go around the railroad gates and cross into the southbound lane, the sheriff's office said. Laxton then went through the red light and turned onto West First Street, according to the sheriff's office.

The deputy followed Laxton and saw that he had crashed into the trees at the dead end of West First Street, the sheriff's office said. His pickup ended up approximately 10-20 feet inside the woods, according to eyewitnesses.

When the deputy pulled up to the crashed pickup, there was no one inside the vehicle, according to the sheriff's office. Officers from the Mokena Police Department arrived and took over the scene because the crash happened in Mokena PD’s jurisdiction, the sheriff's office said.

Laxton returned to the scene of the crash approximately 30 minutes later and was arrested, Carlson and eyewitnesses said.

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