White 5-Year-Old Wakes Up Alone in Car After Black Thief Stole It to Get Home From School

NBC Chicago
February 23, 2014

DrakeWhitker
Drake Whitker slept through the theft and awoke to find himself strapped into his car seat in an empty car with no mom around.

An 18-year-old man has been charged following the abduction of a 5-year-old boy during a carjacking Thursday in northwest suburban Park Ridge.

Park Ridge Police received dozens of tips and phone calls from neighboring police agencies and the public following the abduction, which they say led investigators to Deangelo Fountain.

Fountain, 18, of Evanston, was brought to the Park Ridge police department for questioning Friday and was charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking, aggravated kidnapping and unlawful possession of a stolen vehicle, all of which are felonies, police said Saturday.

He was denied bond at an afternoon hearing.

Police said Fountain had an altercation at Metropolitan Preparatory High School in Arlington Heights Thursday morning and left campus early, beginning the trek to his Evanston home.

deangelo fountain
Deangelo Fountain stole the car because he was too lazy to walk home.

Officials said Fountain was looking for a car to get home when he saw a woman go inside to drop off bags and took advantage of her idling car.

The woman said she was unloading groceries from her SUV in the 1700 block of Good Avenue at 12:20 p.m. when a man jumped in the vehicle and drove off.

Drake Whitker was sleeping in his safety seat in the back seat of his family’s car when the vehicle was stolen, police said.

A watchful neighbor saw what happened and immediately called police with a description of the car and the suspect, prompting an Amber Alert.

Park Ridge Police confirmed Drake was found unharmed in the missing vehicle in an alley near Oakton and Laramie after an alert citizen who saw the Amber Alert spotted the vehicle and called police.

Family says Whitker slept through the entire incident, only to wake up alone in the car in a Skokie alley.