CHICAGO – A man who allegedly barricaded himself in a Coca-Cola truck, prompting a SWAT team response Wednesday morning in the West Loop, has been arrested by a Cook County judge.
The Coke delivery driver was returning to his truck around 11 a.m. after making a delivery in the 900 block of West Madison and saw a man walking among the soda cases in the back of his vehicle, according to a CPD report.
‘What are you trying to do? Stealing?” the driver reportedly asked the man.
Police said the driver got out of the truck and closed the trailer door. But the man inside repeatedly kicked the caravan’s bed, causing damage to the door lock and edge, causing him to ‘barricade’ himself inside, the report said.
After partially opening the door, officers and a CPD supervisor ordered the man to follow their commands, but he refused, the report said. Ultimately, the supervisor called in a SWAT team to help with the man who had “barricaded himself in the truck bed,” the report said.
A SWAT officer was able to enter the truck shortly after noon to arrest the man.
The man, identified by police as 46-year-old Travis Prewitt, was taken to the University of Illinois Hospital for shortness of breath and other health problems, the report said.
As officers led him back to a police car to take him back to the station, Prewitt broke away from an officer and ran two blocks while handcuffed before police caught up with him, according to the report.
He is charged with crimes including burglary, escape from a peace officer and criminal damage, as well as misdemeanor counts of criminal trespass, entering a vehicle and resisting.
Judge Mary Marubio granted the state’s detention request during a court hearing Friday.
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