Federal immigration agents detained an immigrant on Tuesday morning following a car chase through the quiet streets of the Northwest Side. The incident ended with the suspect’s car crashing into a tree. This information comes from federal officials, surveillance footage, and neighbor accounts.
Home security video provided to the Chicago Tribune shows two dark-colored vehicles chasing a red car on West Grace Street, directing it toward the 3800 block of North Olcott Avenue in the Dunning neighborhood at 10:24 a.m. Sirens are heard in the footage as one vehicle rams the red car near the intersection of Grace and Olcott. The red car then veers onto Olcott, disappearing from view, while the other vehicles continue in pursuit.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a “targeted enforcement operation” to arrest Konrad Wojciech Darlak, described as a “criminal illegal alien from Poland.” Darlak allegedly avoided arrest by colliding with an ICE vehicle and ultimately hit a tree. He then fled on foot. ICE officers reportedly “used the minimum amount of force to make the arrest.”
Footage from a doorbell camera captures federal law enforcement vehicles chasing a red sedan toward the 3800 block of North Olcott Avenue on June 9, 2026. A person was detained after the sedan struck a tree. According to a spokesperson, Darlak had a history of arrests for possession of dangerous drugs, obstruction of justice, domestic battery, and transport of dangerous materials. He was also convicted of retail theft, resisting a peace officer, and domestic battery.
Cook County circuit court records indicate that Darlak pleaded guilty to resisting a peace officer and domestic battery charges in 2011 and received a sentence of one year of community service. He also pleaded guilty to several retail theft charges in suburban Cook County, some dating over a decade back. In 2024, he received a year and a half of supervision after pleading guilty to a DUI charge. The Tribune attempted to contact Darlak’s attorney for the DUI case but received no response.
A police report acquired by the Tribune states that two ICE agents approached a man as he entered his car on the 3600 block of North Nottingham Avenue, intending to detain him. The man allegedly reversed his vehicle into an agent’s car and sideswiped another agent’s car as he tried to escape. Following a brief pursuit, all three cars ended up on the 3800 block of North Olcott, where the man lost control. ICE agents transported him to Loyola Hospital in Maywood for observation.
This pursuit comes after another chase and arrest by federal agents in Albany Park the previous week. Subsequent to this arrest, community members gathered in Horner Park to protest federal enforcement actions.
Witness Edward Krueger reported hearing sirens from his home near Grace and Olcott. He checked his home surveillance footage and saw the chase and collision. Krueger saw two unmarked vehicles with flashing lights. He observed the scene as a person was placed into a federal vehicle. Three individuals appeared to be federal agents, with one wearing a vest marked “police,” another labeled “police” with “ICE” beneath, and a third wearing “customs enforcement.”
Other videos show two masked federal officers standing near the crashed red car while Chicago police officers placed red police tape around the site. By early afternoon, the red car, its front crumpled, remained against a tree near Grace and Olcott. When a tow truck arrived at around 1:30 p.m., a pole that the car had run over was revealed. Officers and bystanders remained as the car was towed away.
The typically quiet block rarely sees police activity, neighbors noted. Krueger, a lifelong Chicago resident, moved to this neighborhood in 2023 because it seemed safe and peaceful for raising his young son. He expressed frustration over what he considered disruptive federal actions, stating, “I’m being more negatively impacted by the actions of these federal agencies than I am by the people they’re claiming to be catching.”
Contributions to the report were made by Tribune’s Caroline Kubzansky and Armando Sanchez.