Crestwood Walmart robbery suspect tried to run over officer, police say

CRESTWOOD, Ill. (WLS) -- Crestwood police said a robbery suspect, who had a child with her, tried to run over an officer in a Walmart parking lot overnight.

Around 12:30 a.m. Thursday, security personnel at the Walmart in the 4700-block of 135th Street caught a woman, who was with a child, stealing from the store. When police arrived to arrest her, she allegedly ran to her white Chevy Impala, backed into a patrol car and tried to run over an officer.

"Ended up backing into the cop car and almost hitting two cops. Then smashed into a car right here and then back up again and hit the cart holder, which caused it to shift and hit a sergeant's leg and then ended up taking off and making a right," said Danny Spano, a witness.

The officer was taken to the hospital with minor injuries to his midsection, police said.

Investigators said the suspect tried to hide in a nearby neighborhood. She allegedly blew a tire and ditched the white car in a driveway in the 4300-block of West 150th Street in Midlothian. Dan Shutay lives in the home connected to that driveway.

"There was damage on the driver's side and the wheel well was gone. There was no tire. Other than that there were clothes in the car," Shutay said.

No one was inside the car. A few minutes after he found the car, the police arrived.

"They yelled at me to get on the ground. I was in my underwear. I said, 'I have no clothes on and I live here,'" Shutay said.

After a brief search, police said they found the suspect and the child on the porch of a nearby home, acting like it was their own. The woman was arrested. She has not been charged.

Police said the child is safe and in the hands of the Department of Children and Family Services.