After leading another motorist in a chase prompted by a hit-and-run accident, Andrew Johnson of Hinsdale, Ill., rolled down his window to give officers a big whiff of alcohol. Asked whether he’d been drinking, Johnson replied in the negative and then realized a can of beer was sitting in the console.
Johnson, 24, was pulled over in the 1200 block of Harlem Avenue on Oct. 28, shortly after 2 p.m. According to a police report, Johnson drove his 2001 Ford Escape into another vehicle and took off. The driver of the damaged car followed Johnson while speaking to police on his cell phone.
When officers arrived they asked Johnson to perform three field sobriety tests, which he failed. A breathalyzer exam revealed his blood alcohol level to be .152. The legal limit is .08.
Charred vehicle goes unclaimed
An SUV was found engulfed in flames shortly before 5 a.m. on Nov. 2, and it appears no one was injured.
The burning vehicle was on the east side of the village’s public works building at 7345 15th St., and was already fully involved when police arrived. A department report on the incident states the red, 2002 Ford Excursion was registered to a Frankfort, Ill., resident. Police in that community went to the address tied to the vehicle but people at the home said they did not know the vehicle’s owner.
No charges were filed in the case and police did not report how the fire may have started.
Paintball attack draws police
No one was injured in a drive-by paintball shooting, but police responded to the Oct. 30 incident with several units.
Just after 5 p.m. two men were in the neighborhood of Famous Liquors on Madison Street when they heard three or four shots, or thuds, according to a police report. One of the men, whose name was redacted by village officials before the report was released, told police he was hit in the leg. Neither witness was able to provide a description of the car and offered conflicting reports on which direction the vehicle fled.
Witnesses stop apparent beating
An early morning report of a disturbance outside of a Forest Park bar resulted in battery charges for a man accused of beating his girlfriend after another bar patron made a pass at the woman.
John G. Flanders, 37, of Oak Park, was seen by five witnesses dragging his girlfriend along the sidewalk by her hair and putting her in a headlock, according to a police report. The witnesses viewed the altercation from inside Doc Ryan’s on Madison Street and ran outside to help the woman, police said.
When confronted by the other patrons, Flanders reportedly let go of the woman, whom he lives with and has dated for two years. The woman declined to press any charges and said the incident was “no big deal,” according to the report.
Flanders was charged with domestic battery based on the accounts given by the witnesses. Once at the station, police attempted to give the woman additional information about domestic abuse and ways to file for court protection.
“(The woman who) related the witness statements may be true, but they did not see what she did to Flanders before he grabbed her,” the alleged victim told police, according to the report.
Tearful roadside confession
A young woman arrested on drug related charges broke down in tears when police pulled her over to ask a few questions, according to a report on the incident.
Melloney Davis, 25, of Maywood, allegedly had a small amount of marijuana in her coat pocket when police stopped her on Oct. 31 around 1:30 p.m. According to police, Davis met with 33-year-old Steven Smith of Forest Park in the parking lot of the Sub Tender restaurant on Des Plaines Avenue to buy the drug. After police watched the two suspects make the deal, Davis was stopped in the 7700 block of Washington in River Forest.
“I asked Davis what she had in her right jacket pocket,” police said in their report. “Davis began crying and told me, ‘It’s not my jacket so it’s not for me.'”
According to Davis, Smith allegedly sells drugs for his cousin known as “Muff,” who lives in Maywood and is a marijuana dealer, police said in their report.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between Oct. 28 and Nov. 3, 2006, 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 been adjudicated.
Compiled by Josh Adams
