2 rideshare drivers tased before Chicago carjackings in Logan Square, East Garfield Park: CPD
Cars stolen on North Sawyer Avenue, West Ohio Street
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two rideshare drivers were tased before having their cars stolen from them in separate incidents just hours apart Monday night in Chicago, police said.
The carjackings were very, very similar. In both cases, a rideshare driver was tased by two male suspects in the back seat of his vehicle, Chicago police said.
The first incident happened shortly before 10 p.m. in the 2900-block of North Sawyer Avenue in the Logan Square neighborhood.
The driver's wife said the incident was terrifying for them both. He is still too traumatized to talk about it, but she wanted his story to be heard. She asked not to be identified out of fear.
"They tased him in the back and he said he was feeling some tickling, something like that," she said.
The 56-year-old driver had picked up two male riders. A nearby security camera caught the driver arriving at the trip's destination: a neighborhood eatery where they had ordered takeout.
"Later on they said, you better get out of the car. We have a gun and we are going to shoot you," his wife said. "So he stopped the car and he got out of the car.
The victim stopped the vehicle and got out. The suspects then stole the victim's black Toyota Highlander and fled south on Sawyer, according to CPD.
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The driver was not injured, and declined to go to the hospital. His wife said he has been driving rideshare full time for six years. His family said this is the second time he has been victimized; in October 2020 he was carjacked at gunpoint while working for a rideshare delivery app as a food delivery person.
"I'm just like really thankful that he was able to get out of it without any injuries," said his son, who also asked not to be identified for his safety.
"I don't want my husband to go back," his wife said. "I don't want him to make money at the cost of his life."
The other carjacking happened an hour and 20minutes later in the East Garfield Park neighborhood.
In that incident, a 37-year-old driver was tased in the back of his neck -- again, by two male passengers. That driver stopped his gray Toyota Camry, and the victims stole it, police said, driving west from the 3500-block of West Ohio Street.
The victim suffered an abrasion to the neck and refused to go to the hospital.
Police would not immediately say if the two carjackings are linked, despite their similarities.
No one was in custody Tuesday morning.
"Obviously makes me sad to hear, and I always think a lot of Lyft and Uber drivers are just trying to make ends meet, and, you know, typically it's a second career for a lot of those folks," Logan Square resident Chris Mills said.
The Northwest Side carjacking happened right in front of Bill Bein's home, but he never heard a thing.
"This is not a troubled neighborhood, and it really to me is proof that bad things can happen in good neighborhoods," he said.
East Garfield Park resident Theresa Teamer said she just wants the crime to stop.
"I wish it would stop, too. I wish it would stop, too, but they're not going to stop. They're going to continue to rob, steal and kill," she said.
