PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD)– A Saturday traffic stop led to two Peoria men being arrested on Saturday.
A Peoria police news release states around 8 p.m., police attempted to stop a car at the intersection of Nebraska and Knoxville.
The driver fled at a high rate of speed and officers did not pursue. The same car was spotted near Perry and Abington but the car again fled quickly.
While investigating, police found the car in the 3500 block of Monroe. When officers approached, the passenger, 24-year-old Cortez Aguirre, ditched the car and fled on foot while the vehicle left a third time at a high rate of speed.
Aguirre was placed into custody after a brief foot chase. He was found with a handgun with an extended magazine.
He was transported to Peoria County Jail.
The driver, 22-year-old Omar Denova, wasn’t apprehended until after midnight on Sunday, Nov. 12.
Police were called to Morton Square Park for a man armed with a handgun. When they arrived, Denova fled for the fourth time at a high rate of speed while making motions as if he were pointing a gun at the officer’s squad car.
Officers, again, did not pursue.
The car itself was found abandoned shortly after at the intersection of Grand and War Memorial. Three people were seen fleeing from the vehicle. Officers did not find them after searching the area.
Around 2:30 a.m. a different car in the 3600 block of NE Monroe was spotted in front of a home connected to Denova, of the four people inside, the driver was identified as Denova himself.
He was taken into custody and transported to Peoria County Jail.
Aguirre was arrested for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and resisting police. While Denova was arrested for aggravated fleeing and eluding, aggravated assault of a peace officer, aggravated battery to a peace officer, obstructing police, and theft.
