Witnesses say driver hit bus stop, carjacked and ditched minivan, escaped in western suburbs

NORTH RIVERSIDE, Ill. (CBS) -- North Riverside police said around 6 p.m., its officers conducted an investigative traffic stop about a matter that had occurred earlier at the North Riverside Park Mall. The driver who was being stopped sped off, heading toward Harlem Avenue.

Witnesses at a business near Harlem Avenue and Cermak Road in Berwyn said they saw squad cars chasing a driver who crashed into a bus stop.

A pedestrian was struck and injured there, North Riverside police said.

The driver ditched the first car after the crash, carjacked a minivan, and took off again, the witnesses said.

"The police were already chasing after the guy, so the guy just carjacked a, you know, random—one of our customers, actually, who had membership—and just, you know, took it, all that, so it was actually pretty insane," said one witness from the business, Andre.

Witnesses said the thief drove off in the carjacked minivan with all the doors open.

It appears the driver also later abandoned the stolen minivan in North Riverside on the other side of Harlem Avenue, and took off on foot.

North Riverside police said law enforcement continues to pursue leads, and there is no ongoing threat to the community.