Bank robbery suspect captured by BBQ restaurant customer after police chase

CHICAGO (WLS) -- An alleged bank robber led police on a high-speed chase Tuesday morning to the suburbs and back, ending in a BBQ restaurant parking lot where a customer helped bring him down.

Shortly before 11 a.m., the man, who has not been charged, showed a gun at a TCF Bank, 3333 W. 26th St., in Little Village. He took cash and then got into a vehicle.

The suspect led Chicago police and Illinois State Police on a chase along Interstate 55 and Interstate 294 through Chicago's Little Village and Pilsen neighborhoods, and then to southwest suburban Lyons, and then back to the city's Southwest Side.

At one point, the driver hit a semi truck in the 3200-block of South Ashland Avenue in the Bridgepoint neighborhood.

The driver then jumped out of the vehicle and to a restaurant called BBQ Patio, located near 31st and Ashland.

A witness said that when the man tried climbing a fence to get away, a customer pulled him down off the fence and subdued him.

"Our customer dragged him down, hit him and before you know it all the police officers came and put him down," said Lori Grzesiak, of BBQ Patio.