GANG MEMBER STEALS COP CAR

• Bail was set a $100,000 today for a self-admitted gang member accused of stealing a squad car from the officer attempting to pull him over, the Cook County sheriff's department said today.
• Hector Zuniga, 20, of the 7200 block of South Harding Avenue in Chicago, is charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, criminal damage to government property, aggravated unlawful possession of a stolen police vehicle, aggravated failure to obey an order to stop, possession of cannabis and multiple traffic citations.
• About 5 p.m. Friday in an unincorporated area on the borders of Stickney and Chicago's Southwest Side, a Cook County sheriff's officer tried to stop Zuniga near 47th Street and Leamington Avenue after seeing Zuniga's 1990 Jeep Cherokee roll through an intersection without stopping at a stop sign there, the sheriff's department said.
• Zuniga tried to elude arrest by turning down several side streets before he sharply turned to the right and hit a stop sign at 47th and Kenneth Avenue in Chicago, the sheriff's department said.
• The sheriff's deputy pulled behind Zuniga, along with backup from a Chicago police officer, when Zuniga suddenly put his Jeep in reverse and slammed into the sheriff's squad car. Zuniga then jumped from his vehicle and the officers pursued him on foot, the sheriff's department said. During that pursuit, the department added, Zuniga jumped one fence, which collapsed under him, leaving him with cuts to his head. The pursuing sheriff's deputy suffered a knee injury while jumping over another fence.
• "Zuniga ran several yards and looped back to the original scene, where he jumped into the idling sheriff's squad car and drove east on 47th Street," the sheriff's department said.
• Meanwhile, the Chicago police officer returned to his vehicle and pursued Zuniga until he turned down an alley at Harding Avenue, the department added. About halfway down the block, Zuniga stopped the sheriff's squad car and tried again to flee on foot, the department added. He was stopped shortly thereafter by the pursuing Chicago police officer.
• Authorities found six grams of marijuana in Zuniga's pocket, the sheriff's department said, adding that it took officers five minutes from their initial attempt to stop Zuniga to bring him into custody.
• His next court date is set for June 24 in Cook County Criminal Court in Bridgeview.

It must have taken super human will power not to beat the snot out of this punk once they caught up to him. Hopes for a quick recovery to the injured officer. Must have been an adrenaline rush for the dispatcher. Good job by everyone involved in the chase.