UPDATED: Mokena Man in Stolen Pickup Truck Leads Police on a 30-mile Chase

A 37-year-old Mokena man led police from nine different departments on a 30-mile chase from Ottawa to Minooka. The chase ended in a crash at 5:30 a.m. Thursday.

Daniel Bakalik, of the 9000 block of Cambridge Court, was apprehended in Minooka after Minooka Police assisted in the chase by placing stop sticks on Interstate 80 near the Ridge Road ramp.

The sticks do not immedietly stop the vehicle, so Bakalik continued eastbound on Interstate 80 and when his car was no longer drivable, he took off on foot, Minooka Police Chief Justin Meyer said.

"He was on the side of the road and where he jumped out there was a field there," Meyer said. "We set up a perimeter so he wouldn’t get into the neighborhoods."

The chase began in Ottawa, when, according to a Sun Times Media story, Ottawa police spotted Bakalik driving on Ottawa's Norris Drive in a Mazda pickup truck that had been reported stolen. Police say he refused to pull over and attracted a speedy string of law enforcement officers to join in the chase eastbound on Interstate 80.

The chase ended with a crash through a wire fence near Minooka. About 10 minutes later he was discovered hiding in a cornfield, the Sun Times Media reported. He was arrested for vehicle theft and a host of traffic violations.

Read more about the early morning chase in this Sun Times Media story. 

The blotter information is provided by law enforcement agencies. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.

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