Intoxicated dad dumped injured young son at store after causing 4-vehicle wreck: cops

A Joliet man dumped his injured young son at a store and fled on foot after touching off a four-vehicle wreck near the Louis Joliet Mall, police said.

Christopher Hernandez, 29, was heading northwest on Plainfield Road when he rear-ended a vehicle and sent it careening into a car waiting to turn left onto southeast Plainfield Road from Hennepin Drive shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday, according to a statement released Sunday by the Joliet Police Department.

Hernandez’s vehicle also crashed into a car waiting to turn left from Hennepin Drive, police said.

Hernandez carried his 10-year-old son, who had suffered a broken leg, away from the scene of the crash, according to police, then left him at a nearby store and made himself scarce.

The child was transported to AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, police said.

Officers searched the area for Hernandez and tracked him down to Wyoming Avenue between Ingalls and Texas avenues, where he was arrested, police said.

Hernandez was taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, according to police, and after he was treated, was transported to the Will County jail.

Early Sunday morning, Hernandez was booked on probable cause of aggravated driving under the influence, driving under the influence, resisting police, causing a child to be injured, and causing an accident involving injury or death, jail records show.

Hernandez appeared in court Sunday and his bond was set at $250,000, according to jail records. He was scheduled to appear in court again Wednesday.

The occupants of the other three vehicles were uninjured, police said.