Father makes bold offer to hit-and-run driver who struck 11-year-old son with autism

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    DEERFIELD, IL (WBBM) — A Deerfield father was offering a $10,000 reward Sunday to find the driver who hit his 11-year-old son, who has autism.

But the money isn’t just a reward.

Chase Thompson, 12, was struck by a hit-and-run driver on Deerfield Road near Beverly Place shortly after 7 p.m. Friday.

Chase’s father on Sunday evening was making a bold offer to bring the driver who hit him to justice, one way or the other.

As CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli reported, Chase remained hospitalized and unconscious at Lurie Children’s Hospital Sunday night. His family hopes he is going to recover.

The driver who hit Chase is still out there.

Puccinelli spoke on the phone with Chase’s father, who is making an unusual proposal because “this was an accident before it became a crime.”

On the police radio at the time of the accident, a dispatcher said someone had reported a “kid on the ground with a bloody face, no shoes.”

Chase’s father said his son ran outside in the cold without shoes. The Caruso Elementary School student has autism and is nonverbal.

Chase is not supposed to be able to get out of his house. But he did, somehow, through the garage.

It was 7:10 p.m. at the time, so it was already dark when Chase made his way into the street.

Seconds later, there was a disaster.

Chase lives just yards away from Deerfield Road, where he was struck here in the westbound lanes.

We now know it was not a regular car that hit Chase, but a sport-utility vehicle.

Police believe the driver was behind the wheel of a dark Ford Escape with an SEL or titanium trim package. It may have heavy front-end damage on the passenger side.

And Chase’s dad didn’t want to go on camera. But did announce a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.

But he also said the money can be used by the actual driver if that individual surrenders to police.

He said he doesn’t blame the driver for the accident, but the person “left him in the street to die, and that will never stop haunting him until he turns himself in.”

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