Some asshole with a gun and an arrest warrant has blocked the entire length of North Lake Shore Drive as every cop in Illinois tries to prise him from his car:
A car chase through the South Side and downtown involving a man wanted in connection with a murder in Georgia ended with a standoff between the man and police after the vehicle crashed on Lake Shore Drive on the Near North Side, officials and witnesses said.
According to Harvey Police Department spokeswoman Sandra Alvarado, the man in the vehicle police were pursuing is wanted in connection with a murder in Hampton, Ga. Alvarado said that at 12:24 p.m. today, Harvey police had been contacted by the Henry Country Sheriff's Office asking for help in locating a homicide suspect. Harvey police were given a description of the vehicle, its registration, GPS location and arrest warrant information on the suspect, who was wanted in connection with a March homicide. Alvarado did not name the suspect.
Harvey police located the vehicle, which fled from officers about 12:27 p.m., beginning a chase on highways and interstates in the south suburbs and on the South Side of Chicago. Eventually the vehicle ended up on South Lake Shore Drive, and then North Lake Shore, where it crashed about 1:10 p.m. near Fullerton Parkway. The dark-colored vehicle came to rest in the grass just to the east of the northbound lanes there and police were seen surrounding it with guns drawn, pointing at the vehicle.
This seems like an overreaction, but I'm not a cop. I will say that it took me nearly 90 minutes to get from Wilmette to home this afternoon, which happens when the 40,000 cars that would ordinarily go down Lake Shore Drive during that period instead go down Broadway, Clark, Halsted, and Ashland.
The incident is still going on about 800 meters from my apartment. I'll know it's over when the news helicopters bugger off.