A 30-year-old man was taken into custody early Thursday morning after allegedly leading Lake County Sheriff’s officers on a pursuit into Chicago while two young children were inside the stolen SUV he was driving.

According to Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr., the incident began just after 2 a.m. Thursday, July 23, when a Lake County Sheriff’s officer attempted to stop a stolen Toyota SUV traveling northbound on I-65 near 61st Street.

Instead of stopping, the driver fled from police, continuing westbound on I-80/94 into Illinois.

The pursuit ended near West 115th Street and South Longwood Drive in Chicago, where the fleeing SUV crashed into a parked vehicle, overturned onto its side, and slid across the roadway.

Inside the SUV were the driver’s two young children, a 3-month-old infant and a 3-year-old child, along with a 26-year-old woman, identified as the children’s mother.

Authorities said the 3-year-old suffered abrasions to an ear and was expected to be released from the hospital. The 3-month-old was admitted for further medical evaluation. The children’s mother complained of chest pain and was also transported to a hospital.

The driver reported no injuries but was taken to a hospital for medical evaluation before being taken into custody.

Sheriff Martinez said investigators discovered the driver had multiple active warrants from Lake County and Michigan City, Indiana, Cook County, Illinois, and the state of Michigan, including warrants related to weapons offenses, robbery, fraud, and counterfeiting.

The Indiana Department of Child Services has been notified, while the Chicago Police Department is handling the crash investigation involving the parked vehicle.

Sheriff Martinez defended the pursuit, noting that the Lake County Sheriff’s Department has a longstanding policy of pursuing felony suspects, including those driving stolen vehicles, across state lines when it can be done safely.

“We have a good working relationship with the Illinois State Police and we do pursue stolen vehicles, which are a felony offense, into other states,” Martinez said. “Officers face these types of decisions every day and we evaluate each case on an individual basis.”

He added that deputies had no way of knowing children were inside the SUV during the pursuit.

“It’s unfortunate in this case the driver chose to flee with children in the car, putting them at risk. It was impossible for officers to know there were young children in the vehicle.”

Martinez also emphasized that crossing into another state does not shield suspects from law enforcement.

“Our policy is to safely pursue people who break the law in Lake County regardless of where they drive in an attempt to evade police. For the past seven years, we have been very clear with the public that criminals cannot assume the state line is their safety net and that they can get away by simply crossing it.”

No Lake County Sheriff’s deputies were injured, and no sheriff’s vehicles were damaged during the pursuit.

Criminal charges against the driver are pending. Authorities said no additional information will be released at this time.