A suspect was taken into custody after leading police on a 100 mph pursuit from the Walmart in Zion that ended with the stolen vehicle crashing into another car.
The Zion Police Department received an alert for a stolen vehicle at the Walmart Supercenter, 4000 Route 173 in Zion, around 6:30 a.m. Sunday.
The stolen gray Chrysler 300 was detected on automated license plate reader cameras and located in the parking lot of the Walmart, according to Zion Police Department Lt. Derek Zaloudek.
Prosecutors said officers were a block away and arrived at the location quickly.
The Chrysler fled southbound onto Kenosha Road when officers closed in.
Zaloudek said the vehicle went through intersecting traffic control devices at Route 173, 21st Street and Green Bay Road.
Prosecutors said the car reached speeds of more than 100 mph in a 35 mph zone.
The Chrysler collided with a blue Volkswagen Taos on Green Bay Road just south of the intersection with Kenosha Road. No one in the Volkswagen was injured.
The driver of the stolen Chrysler, Gilberto Castaneda, 19, of Racine, Wisconsin, fled into a nearby field on the east side of the road, Zaloudek said.
He was arrested by officers after a brief foot pursuit. Prosecutors said the Chrysler had been stolen just an hour earlier from Waukegan.
Castaneda was charged with three separate felony counts of aggravated fleeing and eluding and a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to a vehicle.
He was transported to First Appearance Court on Monday morning where he was released from custody after the state’s attorney’s office, which said the offenses were non-detainable, did not file a petition to detain him pending trial.
Lake County Judge Matthew DeMartini ordered Castaneda to be placed on Level 1 pre-trial monitoring, the lowest level of monitoring, which was requested by prosecutors.
Castaneda was also ordered to have no contact with the victims of the stolen vehicle and not drive without a valid driver’s license.
Zaloudek said a passenger in the Chrysler, Jeremiah Butler, 20, of Zion, was also arrested at the crash site and charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to vehicle and released.
Officers are still investigating to identify the third passenger who also fled southbound along Green Bay Road.