A child was reunited with its family and two people were in custody after allegedly stealing an idling pizza delivery van with the 2-year-old inside near the Chicago-Oak Park border, Chicago police said.
A husband and wife who work delivering pizzas left the 1999 white Pontiac running with the child inside about 6:15 p.m. in the 6500 block of West North Avenue, police said. The couple were going to grab the next round of pizzas for delivery when two people took the van and drove off in an unknown direction, police said. The child was dropped off uninjured at an unknown address in Oak Park, police said.
The Chicago Tribune reports the child was dropped off at a teacher’s home who was tutoring students at the time when there was a loud knock at the door.
The two alleged car thieves then took off again in the van and later crashed in the Austin neighborhood at Jackson Boulevard and Central Avenue, according to police.
The teacher, Elizabeth Freeland, told the Tribune the family was reunited at her home when police brought the parents there.
"They rushed in, everyone was just sort of relieved and happy," she told the newspaper.
The two people in the stolen van were taken into custody. Chargers were pending.
Local
Oak Park police assisted in the investigation.
