2/1/18 – Roscoe, IL – Vermont Man At Rest Stop On Route 90 In Stolen Vehicle Crashes Into Roscoe Squad Car – Steals Second Vehicle – A&B On Police Officer – Tries To Hijack Squad Car

www.wrex.com

A Vermont man is in custody after allegedly stealing two cars, crashing into a Roscoe Police Department squad car and leading police on a chase.

An officer found a stolen Chevy Express van out of Grantham, New Hampshire at the Loves Truck Stop on Quality Drive in Roscoe Thursday morning, according to Roscoe Police Department. As officers approached the van, police said Richard Johannesen, 42, of Stowe, Vermont, backed out of a parking stall and into a Roscoe Police Department squad car, making it inoperable. Johannesen allegedly took off in the van, before getting out and hijacking a Chevy Cavalier in the same parking lot.

According to police, he threw the driver of the Cavalier to the ground before taking off in it. Officers found the empty Cavalier without Johannesen in the south part of the Loves Truck Stop parking lot.

Officers set up a perimeter and found Johannesen after he was found allegedly trying to hijack a Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office squad car, according to Roscoe Police Department. He was taken into custody by a sheriff’s deputy near the South Beloit toll plaza on I-90.

Johannesen is charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, vehicular hijacking and criminal damage to state supported property.

The Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office also authorized the following charges: aggravated battery to a police officer, attempted vehicular hijacking, criminal damage to state supported property and resisting arrest.

Johannesen is being held without bond at the Winnebago County Jail.