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Police Easily Catch Hit-And-Run Driver In Elgin

ELGIN, Ill. (CBS/WBBM) -- Police in Elgin didn't have too hard a time finding a hit-and-run driver in the last couple of days.

As WBBM Newsradio 780's Bernie Tafoya reports, driver Samuel Gavina-Morales, 23, might as well have dropped breadcrumbs to the driveway of his home Sunday.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Bernie Tafoya reports

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Elgin police say Gavina-Morales crashed his pickup truck into a curb and dug up parkway grass in the cul-de-sac at the end of Stockbridge Place in Elgin at about 6:10 a.m. Sunday.

But the force was so great, a tire of the truck came off, and Gavina-Morales began to drive away on a tireless wheel, leaving a groove mark seven miles long for police to follow back to his home.

The groove followed the exact route Gavina-Morales took, down Stockbridge Place, Maureen Drive, Congdon Avenue, Shoe Factory Road, and Bartlett Road, back to his driveway in Streamwood.

Police said the groove showed the vehicle had been barely under control, sometimes straying into the oncoming lane of traffic and at one point leaving the street and tearing up 30 feet of parkway grass.

Police said that when they arrived at the end of the groove at about 6:50 a.m. Sunday, Gavina-Morales' pickup had all its tires. But the officers said they found two damaged truck wheels in his backyard, one with and one without a tire attached.

Gavina-Morales was released from jail on bond, and is due back in court May 9 hearing.

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