An evening of heavy drinking and a botched attempt to find a strip club ended with two brothers being arrested, a trip to the emergency room and a pair of soiled pants.
Brothers Steven Litman, 27, and Brian Litman, 21, would eventually tell police that they began consuming a combination of vodka, Red Bull and beer at about 4 p.m. on May 17 before hopping into the backseat of a cab sometime after 2 a.m. and demanding that they be taken to a strip club. But the cab driver, according to a department report, was finished for the night and repeatedly told the men he wouldn’t be driving them anywhere. The men became enraged, the driver told police, and climbed over the backseat to rip the meter box off the dashboard and pull the keys from the ignition.
A brief foot chase ended when the driver lost sight of them, but the cabbie was able to flag down a patrolling officer. A witness to the chase sent the officer to Zambonie’s on Madison where the Litman brothers were reportedly identified by the cab driver.
Police noted “a strong odor of feces” when they approached the brothers, and quickly surmised that they were intoxicated. Brian Litman allegedly gave the officer a chest bump when he stood up from a bar stool, and both men were taken into custody. The younger brother continued to give police a hard time, according to a department report, and resisted the arrest. When the officer tried to place him in the backseat of the squad car, Brian Litman allegedly wrapped his legs around the officer’s legs.
Several strikes to the chest and several pulses with a Taser had little effect on the man, the officer said in his report. Twice, the 21-year-old fell to the ground, banging his head and prompting a hospital visit. The arresting officer noted in his report that feces were coming from the man’s pants.
Brian Litman was charged with battery, trespassing and theft to a vehicle and resisting arrest. Steven Litman was charged with damaging the cab.
Suspects miss toilet by wide margin
Two men were cited recently for urinating in public, both during the early morning hours.
On May 16 at 2:30 a.m., Michael Caldwell left one bar on Roosevelt and walked to another nearby establishment, according to a patrol officer’s report. But Caldwell, 51, of Forest Park, never went inside. Instead, he stopped near the establishment and started urinating.
The following day, at 1:43 a.m., police observed 25-year-old Rupak Shah, of Wheeling, urinating near a hardware store on Madison, according to a department report. Shah told the officer he was “using the stupid part of my brain.”
Pregnant suspect wins sympathy
Suspected shoplifters were caught by police May 11, but when a security guard from the store that was targeted realized one of the suspects was pregnant, he declined to press charges.
According to a department report, police were able to stop the van that three suspected thieves were traveling in and found more than $174 worth of makeup allegedly taken from a CVS store on Circle. An employee from the store reportedly identified the three people in the van as the ones who had taken the cosmetics.
Alejandro Lopez, 33, was the only one who was charged. The woman driving the car told police she was in labor, and when the store employee learned this, he declined to press charges against her. He had earlier identified her as one of the people hiding merchandise in her coat. The third suspect in the case is the woman’s husband. He was waiting in the van during the alleged thefts, according to a department report.
Drivers cited for heavy loads
Two truck drivers were issued citations May 14 for traveling through Forest Park with too heavy a load. The first ticket was written at 9:30 a.m. near the junction of Desplaines Avenue and Interstate 290. A fuel tanker was 2,750 pounds over its allotted weight, according to a department report, and the driver was fined $165.
The second citation was issued 90 minutes later, also on Desplaines, at the Harris intersection. That truck was 3,500 pounds over its limit; a fine of $260 was issued.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between May 10 and May 17, 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
