Man tried to carjack driver less than a month after getting pretrial release for possessing stolen Range Rover: prosecutors

Gregory King (Chicago Police Department)

CHICAGO — A Chicago man is charged with punching and trying to carjack a driver less than a month after being put on pretrial release for allegedly possessing a stolen Range Rover. Chicago police records show the man wasn’t even taken to court to see a judge after being arrested in the stolen car case because the SAFE-T Act allowed him to be sent home from the police station.

Cops arrested Gregory King, 22, around 1 p.m. on March 15 after a 911 caller reported suspicious men breaking into a car and sitting in a Range Rover with Georgia plates in the 2000 block of East 75th Street.

Officers found the Range Rover, tried to pull it over, and arrested King when he bailed out of the driver’s seat and “immediately fell” to the ground, according to his arrest report. The Range Rover had been reported stolen less than 30 minutes earlier.

After being charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle and two misdemeanors for allegedly breaking into another car, King was released from the police station about nine hours later.

Less than a month later, prosecutors say, King tried to get another vehicle by carjacking a driver in the 7000 block of South Parnell.

A 22-year-old man flagged down a Chicago police squad car to report the hijacking attempt.

“Those two guys walking there just tried to rob me and hit me in the face,” the victim told the cops, according to King’s latest arrest report.

The cops stopped King and the other man, who was not charged.

The victim told police he was sitting in his car when King walked up and ordered him to “open the door, we’re not playing with you.” King then punched the man in the face while adjusting his waistband as if he had a gun, officers said in their report.

King is charged with attempted vehicular hijacking and misdemeanor battery.

Judge William Fahy detained him as a safety threat, pointing to the fact that he already had another felony case pending as one reason King should stay in jail.

Original reporting you’ll see nowhere else, paid for by our readers. Click here to support our work.