A suspect is in critical condition after he carjacked a woman who pulled over to the side of the road near Mundelein and then later crashed her stolen car in Volo Friday morning.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office received a call around 1 a.m. Friday for a report of a street sign that had been knocked down into the roadway at Route 60 and Route 120 in Volo.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said a deputy responded and located an entire traffic light pole on the ground.
The deputy found a Chrysler PT Cruiser approximately 1,000 feet off the roadway north of the intersection.
The Chrysler had major damage and was unoccupied. The deputy checked the area and found the driver, a 20-year-old Kenosha, Wisconsin man, on the ground and unconscious.
Shortly after deputies arrived at the crash scene, a 48-year-old Round Lake Beach woman reported she had been carjacked in the area of Route 60 and Erhart Road in unincorporated Mundelein.
A further investigation revealed the 48-year-old woman had pulled over to assist who she thought was a stranded motorist.
When she pulled over, an offender forcefully pulled her out of her Chrysler PT Cruiser and fled in her car.
The Chrysler totaled in the Volo crash was determined to be the victim’s vehicle, Covelli said. The unconscious ejected driver matched the description of the man who carjacked the victim.
A crash investigation revealed the 20-year-old man driving the stolen Chrysler was traveling northwest on Route 60 at a high rate of speed.
As he approached Route 120, he failed to negotiate the curve in the roadway and lost control, Covelli said.
The Chrysler struck the traffic standard and rolled over several times, leaving the driver ejected.
The carjacking offender was transported to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville in “extremely critical condition,” Covelli said.
The incident remains under investigation by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office Technical Crash Investigations Unit. Charges against the carjacking offender are pending.