Chicago Man Arrested After Shooting Himself in Hand During Alleged Attempted Robbery

A Chicago man was arrested on robbery and gun charges after shooting himself in the hand while trying to rob a rideshare driver, police say.

Police arrested Torre Harper, 25, after he reportedly tried to rob a former Lyft driver early in the morning of January 4. Harper was charged with a felony count of attempted robbery while armed with a gun, according to Chicago’s ABC 7.

Harper allegedly entered a rideshare driver’s car in the South Side Park Manor neighborhood near the 7200 block of South St. Lawrence and pointed a gun at the driver. The driver was not having any of it, however, and grabbed the gun to wrest it away from the suspect. During the struggle, the gun went off, striking Harper in the hand.

Harper ran from the car, but police soon located him, arrested him, and took him to the University of Chicago Medical Center for treatment.

A further wrinkle, though, came in the identity of the driver, who had a Lyft sticker on his window. A Lyft spokesman said the driver had not been active on the rideshare service for close to three months.

Lyft spokesman Scott Coriell also noted that the company contacted the former driver, and he confirmed that he was not operating as a Lyft driver at the time of the incident.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.