Taxi Driver Victim Of La Grange Attempted Carjacking: Cops

LA GRANGE, IL – A Maywood man who attempted to steal a taxicab last month in La Grange apparently got into a payment dispute with the driver, police said.

The incident was outside the La Grange police station, according to public records.

Gregory Logan, 52, was arrested on charges of attempted vehicular hijacking and possession of a controlled substance.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the full police report.

On the afternoon of Oct. 16, Logan asked the driver to take him to the Jewel grocery store in Villa Park. Logan emerged from the store with chocolate and liquor, which he started drinking, the report said.

Logan then asked the driver to take him to the Jewel in Countryside. While waiting for Logan at the store, the driver was notified by a dispatcher that Logan had a habit of not paying his taxi fares, police said.

Logan returned with more alcohol. The driver then asked him to pay his fare, but Logan said he would do so when he got to his house, police said. The driver later told officers he saw Logan with a baggie of what appeared to be cocaine.

The driver decided to go to the La Grange police station and then ask again for payment.

When they arrived at the station, Logan paid him $49, but failed to pay the rest of the $80 fare, according to the report. The driver approached the front door of the station, but then saw Logan sitting in the driver's seat, police said.

The driver told Logan to get out, pulling on Logan's hands in an attempt to remove him, the report said.

Logan then started the car, a Toyota Prius, and moved it, prompting the driver to yell to passersby to alert the police. The passersby did so.

Video from the police station showed Logan go to the front seat and move it backward and forward, according to the report.

In an interview, Logan said he thought it was wrong that the driver demanded full payment before he finished the trip. He said he moved to the front seat to get the driver's attention. And he initially maintained the car was off the whole time he was in the driver's seat.

When an officer told Logan that the car was moving back and forth, Logan said, "If I would have known how to work one of those cars, I would have been gone," according to the report.

Pressed on that statement, Logan reiterated his point, "Yeah, I'd leave."

About the cocaine, Logan said someone gave it to him, requesting he check it out, police said.

Logan told officers he was confused about why he was being arrested. He said he had planned to pay the fare.