April 11--A man who is accused of kidnapping his 3-year-old daughter in the northwest suburbs was also charged in an alleged attack on police in northwest Indiana last year, authorities confirmed.
Investigators from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services said they believe Faiz Ikramulla, 35, of Round Lake, left his daughter in a garbage can and drove away Tuesday. Police said they found her that evening crying and waving her hands near a forest preserve in northwest suburban Prospect Heights.
Ikramulla has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, a class X felony, in that case, a Cook County sheriff's spokeswoman said.
Authorities confirmed Friday that Ikramulla is the same man who was arrested in Portage, Ind., last year and charged with multiple offenses after he allegedly led police on a chase and struck several squad cars.
Portage police said they stopped Ikramulla in his car last May in response to a call of a suspicious vehicle following a woman and the driver urinating in a yard. Ikramulla drove away during the traffic stop, police said, striking an officer in the arm and hip with his car mirror.
A high-speed car chase ensued, ending when a squad car hit the rear of Ikramulla's vehicle and caused him to spin out, officials said. Police surrounded Ikramulla's car with squad cars and said he then drove back and forth, damaging several police vehicles.
When he became combative and refused to come out, police said, they used a Taser on him and pulled him out of the car through the driver's side window. While he was on the pavement being cuffed, police said, Ikramulla repeatedly yelled, "Allahu akbar," an Arabic term generally translated as "God is great," police said.
Because he continued to resist arrest and was spitting blood from a cut he suffered during the arrest, police placed him handcuffs and leg shackles and a hood to prevent spitting, and gave him a sedative, according to police reports.
Ikramulla was charged with felony battery to a law enforcement officer, resisting police, criminal recklessness, and driving while intoxicated, court records show.
"It was a very intense situation," Portage police Chief Troy Williams said. "It could have been much worse. Having this other incident only shows what a danger he was."
Ikramulla was initially ordered held on no bond while the FBI questioned him "regarding the totality of the circumstances," the chief said.
A judge later freed Ikramulla on $20,000 bond, and ordered he undergo a psychiatric evaluation as a condition of his release. He was previously scheduled to go to trial in December and then in February, but the case was delayed until June, records show.
"It became clear that he was having some sort of mental breakdown," said Bob Harper, his attorney in the Indiana case. "He has been in therapy."
This week, authorities released a photo of a young girl who was found wandering through traffic near a forest preserve in Prospect Heights. Police later reported the girl's family stepped forward and claimed her, but then authorities announced the kidnapping charges against Ikramulla, the girl's father.
A warrant for Ikramulla's arrest was issued, and he was arrested Wednesday by the sheriff's office in Van Buren County, Mich. He waived extradition and will be brought back to Illinois to face the charge, police said.
A 911 call came in around 7 a.m. Wednesday reporting a possibly suicidal man on the expressway, said Michigan State Police Sgt. Richard Dragomer. Police responded and found an abandoned car that belonged to Ikramulla, Dragomer said.
"A trooper found him standing on the overpass of I-94," Dragomer said. "He appeared to be disoriented and distraught."
Police said they were able to take him into custody without incident.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was investigating the alleged kidnapping, and the girl was placed with relatives.
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