16-Year-Old Boy Crashes Stolen Car After Plate Reader Alerts Sheriff, Authorities Say

NILES, IL — Four people face criminal charges, two of them in juvenile court, after authorities said one of them crashed a stolen sedan into another car, injuring its driver Tuesday in Niles.

Neither of the adult defendants, nor the officer who arrested them, showed up for court in Skokie the following day.

The officer spotted the car, a 2011 Hyundai stolen from Chicago that morning, near the intersection of Golf Road and Milwaukee Avenue in Niles around 2:15 p.m., according to a sheriff's office spokesperson.

An automated license plate reader alerted a Cook County sheriff's police officer to the stolen car, which fled after officers observed it and then tried to conduct a stop, according to the state's attorney's office.

The driver of the stolen car sped away, switching lanes and escaping several near-miss collision before crashing into another car, prosecutors told the judge Wednesday in Skokie — at what would have been an initial court appearance for the two adult arrestees had they appeared.

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According to the sheriff's office, the officer did not pursue the stolen Hyundai before it crashed into a sedan. One person in that car was taken to an area hospital for minor injuries and released.

Niles police said they were dispatched to a report of a crash with injuries at North Milwaukee Avenue and West Crain Street.

When they arrived, they learned that four people had fled from one of the cars involved, which was also the subject of an investigation by sheriff's police, according to a Niles police spokesperson.

"Niles officers subsequently detained four suspects near the scene and turned them over to the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department as part of their investigation," Sgt. Dan Borkowski told Patch.

Jamarius Walker, 20, of Des Plaines, 18-year-old Darrius Anderson, of Prospect Heights, were both charged with misdemeanor criminal trespassing to a vehicle and released from custody with citations, authorities said.

Both Walker and Anderson were on the court call to appear Wednesday in Skokie, but because the arresting officer was not in court to attest to the fact that they had been properly notified of when and where to appear — and without such record in the court file — the judge declined to issue a warrant. Instead, both men are due back in court Jan. 22 in Skokie.

The 16-year-old Chicago boy accused of driving the stolen car has been charged in juvenile court with the felony offenses of possession of a stolen motor vehicle, criminal damage to more than $10,000 worth of property and leaving the scene of an accident.

The teen was also charged with two misdemeanor offenses — criminal trespassing to a vehicle and driving without a license, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff's office.

A third passenger, a 13-year-old boy, was charged in juvenile court with misdemeanor criminal trespassing to a vehicle.