Police: Drive-through fight leads to high-speed chase in Shorewood

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Andrew Myers

Updated: November 2, 2011 12:42AM

SHOREWOOD — A fight over a spot in the drive-through lane reportedly led to a high-speed police chase through the village Saturday night.

A man called 911 around 11:23 p.m. as he left the McDonald’s on Route 52 near Interstate 55 in Joliet, Shorewood police Cmdr. Eric Allen said.

“He had been in the drive-through getting food and honked at the car ahead of him to move along,” Allen said.

Apparently angry at being honked at, Andrew J. Myers, 33, reportedly got out of his blue Saab 97x and walked up to the vehicle behind him.

“Some words were exchanged before the confrontation turned physical with Myers reaching into the vehicle,” Allen said.

Police say Myers fled as the other man followed and called 911.

“A northbound pursuit began near Route 52 and Route 59 where Myers sped up and turned into the Brookforest subdivision on Sunrise Drive. On Birch Drive, he pulled into a driveway and blacked out his headlights,” Allen said. “Two officers on bicycle patrol in the neighborhood witnessed this and approached the Saab, while identifying themselves as police officers. He threw the car back into gear and sped off as they pounded on the windows.”

Police also saw a woman in his passenger seat.

Squad cars pursued the Saab down North Brookshore Drive and west on Jefferson Street at speeds reaching nearly 100 miles per hour.

“At Ridge Road, where squad cars were waiting, Myers stopped the vehicle,” Allen said. No one was injured

Myers, of 126 Bertram Drive in Yorkville, was arrested and booked into the county jail on charges of assault, battery, driving under the influence of alcohol, endangering the life or health of a child and aggravated fleeing of police.

At that time, police discovered that the woman passenger’s 7-year-old daughter was riding in the back without a seat belt.

Police seized the Saab.

country music fans keep cops hopping

Myers had stopped for fast food after attending a concert by country singer Tim McGraw in Tinley Park.

“That concert resulted in a busy night for the night shift,” Allen said. “Around 1:30 a.m. (Sunday), a man who’d attended the show was found passed out in the parking lot of 7-11 at Route 52 and Route 59. He had an outstanding warrant from Peoria County and was taken into custody.”

About an hour and a half later, another man who had been at the show attempted to walk through the drive-through of McDonald’s at 631 Brookforest Ave. (Route 59). When he was refused service for being outside of a vehicle, he reportedly urinated on the tires of a car in the parking lot and was charged with disorderly conduct.