Surveillance video from a building across the street shows the stolen SUV speeding down the road and narrowly missing a car before slamming into an abandoned building near the corner of Damen and West 59th Street and bursting into flames around 11:45 p.m. Sunday.
"I heard a big impact. Sounded like a giant pop can crushed," Anthony Anderson said.
The driver fled the scene on foot. A 3-year-old boy was still inside the burning SUV. His mother, who was inside another car following the SUV, ran to the crash and pulled him out before the vehicle bust into flames. He was underneath the passenger seat.
A police sergeant assisted the boy's mother in performing CPR. They were able to resuscitate the child.
"The sergeant involved in that scenario did a great job. Actually, probably saved that child's life," Chicago Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said.
Paramedics soon arrived and stabilized the boy, who was taken to University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital. He was listed in stable condition as of Monday afternoon.
The 3-year-old's mother told police she knows the driver involved in the crash. Police said there is no connection between the driver who crashed and the owner of the stolen car, which was reported stolen on May 5.
Police are searching for the driver. There is no one in custody yet.