Chicago-area men allegedly battered woman, stole her car with 2-year-old inside, and ran her over

LAKE COUNTY, Ill. (TCD) -- A 34-year-old woman was hospitalized this week after a man allegedly stole her car with her young child still in the back seat and ran her over as he drove away.

According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, on Thursday, Feb. 23, at 3:35 p.m., deputies responded to a home on the 16000 block of Route 137 in unincorporated Libertyville regarding a "vehicular hijacking."

The Sheriff’s Office said the 34-year-old pulled her Volkswagen Atlas into her driveway and brought one of her children inside her home. She walked back outside to get her 2-year-old son when a white BMW pulled into her driveway. A man allegedly got out of the passenger side of the BMW and "struggled to get into the victim’s Volkswagen as she tried to keep her 2-year-old son safe."

The man allegedly "battered the woman, knocking her to the ground."

The man took her Volkswagen and fled. The BMW also left the scene, and one of the drivers ran over the victim as they left, causing "serious injuries to her extremities." The woman called 911 and reported that her son was inside the car, and deputies began searching the area for the car and the boy.

Deputies reportedly contacted Volkswagen Car-Net to locate the missing car, but they encountered a delay because Car-Net "would not track the vehicle with the abducted child until they received payment to reactivate the tracking device in the stolen Volkswagen."

According to the Sheriff’s Office, soon after, someone working in a business on the 2200 block of Lakeside Drive in Waukegan called to report two cars drove into the parking lot, and one of the drivers "abandoned a small child."

She brought the child inside to safety before he could run into the street. Waukegan Police and Lake County Sheriff’s deputies went to the scene and confirmed the child found in the parking lot is the victim’s son.

Lake County Sheriff’s Office officials eventually found the Volkswagen in a parking lot near Casmir Pulaski and Route 43 and said it will be "thoroughly processed for trace evidence."

The victim who was battered is in a local hospital, where she remains in serious but stable condition.

Deputies are still on the lookout for the white BMW, which was reportedly stolen from a car dealership in Waukegan.

MORE:

• Offenders Batter, Run Over Woman, Steal Her Car with Two-Year-Old Inside - Lake County Sheriff's Office