Chicago police dispatcher robbed while trapped in car wreckage

Prosecutors allege that a couple robbed a veteran Chicago police dispatcher while she was trapped inside her vehicle following a car accident. Victoria Mesarina, a 26-year veteran of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, was driving home in uniform on July 3 when another vehicle struck her car on West Douglas Boulevard and fled the scene.

While Mesarina remained pinned in the wreckage with injuries including nine broken ribs and two fractured vertebrae, 25-year-old James Nelson allegedly climbed into her backseat and stole a coin purse containing her driver’s license and various cards. His girlfriend, 24-year-old Mahogany Vann, reportedly entered the front passenger seat and searched Mesarina’s waistline for additional valuables. The pair fled as emergency sirens approached.

Following the incident, Mesarina was extricated by firefighters and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital. Prosecutors state that her debit cards were used shortly after the theft at a local gas station. Surveillance footage from a BP station reportedly shows Nelson making a purchase using a vehicle registered to Vann.