Woman injured trying to stop couple from stealing her car at Gurnee mall

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Christopher Lugo and Noreen Patlan

Updated: January 27, 2012 7:26PM

A north suburban woman was injured when she tried to stop two people from stealing her car and was struck by the door of the car as it drove away Wednesday night outside the Gurnee Mills mall.

The victim, a 19-year-old Round Lake Heights woman, told Gurnee police that after she got off work at Gurnee Mills in the 6100 block of Grand Avenue on Wednesady evening, her boyfriend had picked her up and drove her to her parked car in the parking lot. She started her car and left it running to warm up while she waited in her boyfriend’s truck.

After a few minutes, they saw a man and woman get into her car, so the victim got out of the truck, opened the passenger-side door to her car and told the subjects they were in her car. At that point, the man put the gray 2001 Honda Civic into reverse and accelerated, according to a release from police.

The victim was knocked over by the car door and struck her head on the passenger-side window. She also injured her shoulder on the moving car.

The suspect backed the car into another parked vehicle, then drove a short distance before abandoning the car outside a nearby restaurant. While the man ran away, the woman went into the fast food restaurant and was eventually picked up by a friend, but their vehicle was stopped by police a short time later and she was arrested, the release said.

The man was located by Waukegan police on Thursday night and turned over to Gurnee police for questioning on Friday.

Christopher Lugo, 19, of Zion, was charged with felony theft, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and felony criminal damage to property. He will appear in bond court Saturday in Waukegan.

Noreen Patlan, 19, of North Chicago, was charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle and obstructing justice. A bond hearing was scheduld for Friday but court information was not immediately available.