Domestic battery suspect slams head-on into car with mom, baby after fleeing in Bolingbrook, police say
A terrifying chain of events this week in the southwest Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook started with a domestic violence call, and ended with a baby fighting for their life.
Bolingbrook police said on Monday morning, they were called to the 400 block of Seneca Lane for a report of a domestic battery. At 7:37 a.m., a responding officer found the suspected offender in the incident — Bernard Crawford, 36 — taking off in a Jeep, police said.
The officer pulled over Crawford in the 300 block of Schmidt Road, police said. Crawford briefly stopped, but then fled north and then east on Boughton Road without officers pursuing him, police said.
Moments later, Crawford passed through the intersection of Boughton Road and Delaware Drive in the Jeep — still heading east, but now wrong-way driving in the westbound lanes, police said.
Just after passing through the intersection, Crawford slammed head-on into a car carrying a mom and her 3-month-old baby of an unspecified gender, police said.
The mother suffered significant injuries, but was stabilized, police said. The infant was hospitalized in stable, but critical condition.
Two other vehicles were involved in the crash, but no one from those vehicles was taken to the hospital, police said.
Crawford, of Lemont, was taken to a local hospital for treatment and then released into police custody. He now stands charged with one count each of felony aggravated battery to a child, intimidation, aggravated domestic battery, and aggravated driving under the influence on a suspended license. He is also charged with four felony counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing bodily harm, and two misdemeanor counts of domestic battery.
He was taken to the Will County Adult Detention Facility.
The victims of the initial domestic battery call — a 23-year-old woman and an 8-month-old child — were treated for injuries and later released from the hospital, police said.
