An Elmhurst bank robbery led to a driver trying to run over the Hillside police chief with his car and the chief firing at the vehicle.
Harris Bank, 1121 S. York Road, was robbed at 4:15 p.m. Dec. 16. The FBI filed a criminal complaint Friday, Dec. 19 against David Divizio, 38, of Chicago, according to an FBI press release. He was charged with one count of bank robbery, a felony offense, the press release said.
FBI spokesman Ross Rice said the suspect displayed a note and a handgun to a bank teller and demanded cash. The robber then escaped on foot.
Rice said a resident living near the bank saw a suspicious car parked near the facility and called police, who were unable to reach the bank in time to apprehend the robber because of the Dec. 16 snowstorm.
“Hillside patrol saw the vehicle, gave chase and eventually were able to apprehend him,” Rice said.
Elmhurst Police Chief Steve Neubauer said Divizio was apprehended by Hillside and Berkeley police after a radio dispatch sent out by Elmhurst police. Berkeley Police Chief Timothy Griffin said the suspect tried to run down Hillside Police Chief Joe Lukaszek on Wolf Road.
“When Wolf Road ends, you can go east or west,” Griffin said. “He was coming back (on Wolf) and the police chief was out of his car.”
Lukaszek was patrolling the area at 4:30 p.m. to keep an eye out for children walking home from school in the snowstorm when a call came over his radio about the robbery.
When Lukaszek approached Butterfield and Wolf roads, the driver of a passing car looked up at him and mouthed an expletive.
“That’s what did it for me,” Lukaszek said.
Lukaszek switched on his lights, and the driver appeared to be pulling over, but then attempted to drive off. He struck a fence at Proviso Drive and Wolf.
Lukaszek got out of the squad SUV and ordered the man out of his car at gunpoint when the man attempted to run him down.
“When I saw he was coming at me, I knew he didn’t care. I said, ‘This has got to stop,’” he said.
Lukaszek fired at the car’s tires.
“I just wanted to disable the vehicle at that point,” he said. “(The suspect) wasn’t going at a high speed because of the snow.”
The driver went about two blocks with Lukaszek in pursuit before pulling over and surrendering.
Lukaszek said officers secured the car until Elmhurst police arrived moments later.
While he has drawn his weapon in the past, Lukaszek said the events marked the first time he ever fired in the line of duty.
“It worked out well,” he said. “No accidents, no injuries and the bad guy goes to jail.”
As for being in the right place at the right time, Lukaszek was amused at the irony of the situation.
“As corny as it sounds, that’s what I was doing, making sure the kids were safe with all that snow,” he said.
Divizio took about $4,500 in cash, the FBI press release said. He was ordered held without bond Friday by U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys, pending his next court appearance. He is being held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago.
Rice said that FBI agents working the case are working a Riverside bank robbery that also occurred Dec. 16. It also was not known whether the bank robbery was related to another Elmhurst bank robbery Nov. 24.
Staff writer Joe Sinopoli contributed to this report.
