Fleeing Plainfield Shoplifter Ditches Car, Causes Crash: Report

CREST HILL, IL — A man with a Plainfield mailing address faces felony and misdemeanor charges after police say he fled officers who attempted to apprehend him for shoplifting, ditched his car and sent the car careening into a tree. Vygandas Ezerskis, 51, of the 2000 block of Ruth Fitzgerald Drive, faces charges including retail theft and aggravated fleeing and eluding.

Joliet police told the Herald-News an officer attempted to stop a Honda Odyssey believed to be connected to a shoplifting incident at a Crest Hill business Thursday after the vehicle disregarded a stop light.

The vehicle did not stop even after an officer activated her siren and continued west on Caton Farm Road, hitting a pickup truck near Caton Farm and Drauden roads, according to the report.

Ezerskis is accused of bailing out of the car on Ruth Fitzgerald Drive but leaving it running, causing it to crash into a tree. Ezerskis was arrested after police chased him on foot.

Will County jail records indicate Ezerskis is also charged with disregarding a traffic-control device, criminal damage to property, failure to notify the owner of an unattended vehicle of damage, as well as fleeing/attempting to elude an officer, improper lane use, driving an uninsured vehicle, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and resisting an officer.

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Ezerskis appeared in Will County court on June 8 and has another appearance scheduled for June 28. He remained in custody as of Tuesday, according to jail records, and his bond was set at a total of $15,000, meaning he would have to post $1,500 to be released.

Ezerskis has a prior arrest for domestic battery in Will County from 2014, but that charge was dropped in 2015 after the complaining witness did not appear in court.

The chase involving Ezerskis came a day before another Plainfield-area man was arrested after a wild pursuit for suspected robbery and attempted robberies.

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Photo via Will County Sheriff's Office