An employee of Arrow Liquor on Harlem Avenue called police Oct. 3 reporting that four shoplifters had been seen running from the store, each of them with a liquor bottle in both hands.

At the same time, Lt. Steve Johnsen was leaving a business next door to the liquor store, and he also saw the four men running and laughing. He called the police department and reported seeing them enter a 2002 Pontiac Sunfire and drive through a parking lot westbound onto Franklin and then northbound onto Harlem at a high rate of speed.

Later, a River Forest officer stopped a car fitting the description on the 700 block of Harlem in Oak Park. The passengers in the car were described as acting loud and combative, and refused to obey orders after being told they were under arrest. A Taser shock gun was used, and the men were arrested.

The employee who reported the incident signed complaints against all four offenders for retail theft.

 

Man with warrant gives false name

A random check of the LEADS database conducted by a Forest Park police officer on Oct. 6 revealed that the registered owner of a vehicle traveling on Harlem Avenue had an active warrant for his arrest in Carpentersville. The car was pulled over at 701 S. Harlem. The driver had no identification, but gave his name as Phillip Washington.

A check on that name revealed no record, but the man was placed in temporary custody. While he was at the police station, a woman called saying her boyfriend, Kendall Meeks, had been arrested, and asked to speak with him. Officers told the woman that nobody named Meeks was at the station, but she said her friend was in the car with him when he was arrested.

Police again asked the man for his name, but he still said Washington. His fingerprints, however, revealed that he was indeed Meeks. He was charged with attempted obstruction and not having valid identification. Carpentersville police were contacted, and said that they would take charge of the case. He faces a battery charge in Carpentersville.

 

Two apartments broken into on Adams

Police responded to a residential alarm call at 7542 Adams on Oct. 3. Upon arrival, officers discovered Unit #102 burglarized, and made contact with the property manager. Once he arrived, they found that someone had also broken into Unit #105, which was vacant.

 

Stolen bike

On Oct. 5, a man came to the police station reporting that a bicycle was missing from his garage at 829 Thomas. He said that he also found another bike outside the garage.

The man said that he and his wife had accidentally left their garage door open that morning. When he returned, he found his wife’s gray women’s dirt bike missing. The estimated cost of the bike was given as $200.

The man said that another bike in the garage, as well as a set of tools, was left untouched. He said he found another bike parked near the open garage door.

 

These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between Oct. 3 and Oct. 7 and represent only a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime. The cases have not yet been adjudicated.

“compiled by Seth Stern