U Of I Student Charged With Stealing Cab

A University of Illinois student is being accused of punching a taxi driver, stealing the cab and then crashing it into another car. 

Thomas Hart of Elmhurst is charged with DUI, aggravated battery and possession of a stolen vehicle. 

Urbana police Sgt. Cory Koker says the taxi driver had taken the 21-year-old and two friends to a bar that was closed. 

Koker tells The (Champaign) News-Gazette that a short while later the student punched the driver in the face. 

According to police, when the driver and the student's friends got out of the minivan, Hart jumped in the driver's seat and took off. 

The minivan then collided with another car, whose occupants were briefly hospitalized. 

Champaign County sheriff's Sergeant Jeff Vercler says Hart was not injured.