Man Held in Aurora Taxi Carjacking

Aurora Police have secured charges through the Kane County State’s Attorney on a 33-year-old Naperville man who allegedly hijacked a taxi early Thursday morning after stabbing the 39-year-old taxi driver in the throat.

Maurice A. Martin of the 700 block of Inland Circle was charged over the weekend with aggravated vehicular hijacking, vehicular hijacking, aggravated battery, aggravated fleeing and eluding police, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. He was taken into custody in the late afternoon of July 4 after leading police on a lengthy pursuit.

At about 4:45 a.m. Thursday, the driver, who is an Aurora resident and works for Eagle Taxi Company, allegedly received a call from Martin who requested to be picked up at a Naperville gas station in the 600 block of North Route 59.  

After the driver responded to that location and Martin entered the cab, he requested to be driven to the Hollywood Casino in downtown Aurora. While enroute to that location, the taxi driver dropped Martin off at a gas station in the 600 block of North Broadway Avenue so Martin could allegedly get change for a $100 bill.

When Martin got back into the taxi he told the driver he changed his mind and wanted to go to a different location and proceeded to give the driver street-by-street instructions.  

After traveling through several near east side streets, the taxi driver pulled to the curb in the area of Spring and North Fourth Streets. The pair then got into a short verbal altercation about where Martin’s ultimate destination would be. 

It was at that point that Martin allegedly held a sharp object, which police have learned was possibly a broken plastic license plate holder frame, to the driver’s throat and cut him. The driver then jumped from the cab which was still slowly moving forward.  As the taxi came to rest against another vehicle, Martin jumped from the back seat to the driver’s seat and took off eastbound on Spring Street.

The victim was taken to an Aurora hospital for treatment of non-life threatening wounds and was released.

At about 4:50 p.m., the stolen cab was spotted by an off-duty DuPage County Forest Preserve police officer near Butterfield Road and Route 59 and a pursuit was initiated by officers from the Warrenville and Naperville police departments. 

Responding Aurora Police officers took over the pursuit in the area of Route 59 and North Aurora Road.  The pursuit then proceeded through numerous Far East side streets and eventually ended up on Aurora’s Near East side.

In the area of North Avenue and Benton Street, Aurora Police terminated the pursuit when they learned that an Illinois State Police plane that happened to be airborne in the area, had a clear view of the vehicle’s location and direction of travel.  Shortly before the pursuit was ended, police officers along the way successfully deployed stop sticks.  The vehicle came to a stop at Ohio Street and Harriet Avenue where Martin was taken into custody without incident. 

Martin was taken to an Aurora hospital for treatment of minor injuries he apparently sustained when he collided with an Aurora Police squad.  That collision resulted in minor damage and no injuries to the police officer.  No other crashes or injuries resulted from the pursuit. 

Source: Aurora Police Department