A pregnant woman was beaten and run over while trying to rescue her 2-year-old child during a carjacking in Illinois, authorities said.
The 34-year-old had just returned to her home in Libertyville — roughly 40 miles northwest of downtown Chicago — when a BMW sedan pulled into the driveway behind her vehicle, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said in a Feb. 23 news release.
She had just brought one of her children inside and came back to get the other when the BMW appeared, the sheriff’s office said. A tall man in a gray hooded sweatshirt and green face mask got out and tried to steal her vehicle, a 2021 Volkswagen Atlas, according to the sheriff’s office.
The woman struggled with the suspect, who deputies said beat her and knocked her to the ground, the release said. He and the driver of the BMW drove away, running the pregnant woman over and “causing serious injuries to her extremities,” the sheriff’s office reported.
Her family believes the suspects followed her home from a pet store, TV station WBBM reported.
Despite being injured, the woman was able to call 911, and the sheriff’s office began looking for the vehicle and her toddler.
While deputies searched the area, the sheriff’s office also contacted Volkswagen Car-Net to track the SUV’s location, but “there was a delay,” the release said
“Volkswagen Car-Net would not track the vehicle with the abducted child until they received payment to reactivate the tracking device in the stolen Volkswagen,” the sheriff’s office said.
However, a 911 call came in shortly after the search began from someone working at a business in nearby Waukegan, saying they had found the child, according to investigators. The witness told officials the BMW and the Volkswagen both pulled into the parking lot, dropped off a toddler and left.
The child started walking toward a busy road, and the witness ran outside and brought them to safety, they told deputies.
Deputies later found the abandoned Volkswagen in a parking lot, the release said. Investigators haven’t located the BMW, which had been reported stolen from a Waukegan car dealership earlier in the week.
The mother was taken to a hospital and was in serious but stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office. She is six months pregnant, according to USA Today.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Lake County Sheriff’s Office at 847-377-4000.
Many expressed outrage on social media over the attack, but also the response by Volkswagen Car-Net, which they say initially refused to track the vehicle and slowed police efforts to find the child.
“This is outrageous.. as a VW owner, I will NEVER buy another, asking for payment when the police are trying to locate a child that was kidnapped!” one comment said.
“They needed payment first before tracking the car? There was a child in danger! The person on the line demanding payment first should be fired!” said another.
In an email to McClatchy News, Volkswagen said it is aware of the incident, but that a third-party provider responsible for Car-Net’s support services is to blame.
“Volkswagen has a procedure in place with a third-party provider for Car-Net Support Services involving emergency requests from law enforcement. They have executed this process successfully in previous incidents,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, in this instance, there was a serious breach of the process. We are addressing the situation with the parties involved.”
“Volkswagen takes the safety and security of its customers very seriously. Our thoughts are with the victims and their family,” the company said.