Police Tasered a Forest Park woman that refused to submit to arrest for allegedly driving on a revoked license on the afternoon of Oct. 12.
Forty-three-year-old Macaro Gaunchaux was curbed on the 1100 block of Circle Ave. for a traffic violation; however, when an officer ran her license through a computer, the system revealed it was revoked.
When the officer announced that Gaunchaux was under arrest, she purportedly refused to exit her vehicle, so she was physically removed.
By this time, another officer had arrived because Gaunchaux was supposedly persistent in her struggle to resist the arrest. Subsequently, she was Tasered in the back twice while in the grips of two officers and finally relented.
Police then searched her vehicle and recovered seven small bags of marijuana, which were found in her purse.
Gaunchaux was charged with two counts of resisting arrest, and one count each of driving with a revoked license, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, failure to signal and a cannabis control offense.
Thief’s attempted take runs the gamut
On the night of Oct. 17, a Chicago man attempted to steal from a local Walgreen’s a list of items that spanned a digital camera and cream for skin boils.
Forty-two-year-old Charles West was arrested after a security guard saw him place a digital camera in his coat pocket and then attempt to leave the store. When the security guard confronted him at the door, West pushed the employee, but handed over the camera.
“Here is the camera. Can I go now?” West asked, as he attempted to leave the store.
The security guard refused to let West leave, and instead led him to the manager’s office where more merchandise was discovered on him. In addition to the camera, West allegedly attempted to steal one bottle of Listerine, one nine-volt Duracell battery and a tube of ointment for skin boils.
West told police and store employees that he tried to steal the items in order to pay for drugs. He was subsequently arrested and charged with battery and felony retail theft.
DUI
Andrea Griffin, 42, of Bellwood was arrested for drunk driving in the wee hours of the morning on Oct. 16. Griffin was curbed on the 7200 block of Roosevelt Rd. after an officer saw her car, without its headlights on, mount the curb, and momentarily drive on the sidewalk. When she was pulled over, police performed field sobriety tests on her, but she failed all of them. She was arrested and charged with DUI, moving violations, operating an uninsured vehicle and driving without lights.
Retail theft
A teenage girl from Cicero and a 20-year-old Cicero man attempted to steal several hundred dollars worth of merchandise from a local K-Mart on the eve of Oct.13. Walter Espinoza and his teenage accomplice allegedly tried to stuff $321.86 worth of electronics in a baby stroller and then leave the 7630 Roosevelt Rd. store without paying. A security guard saw them on surveillance video and confronted them at the door, foiling their plan. The teenage girl and Espinoza both reportedly told authorities after they were arrested that they planned to steal the items and sell them to a “female” that Espinoza knows. Both arrestees received one felony count of retail theft.
These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between October 13 and October 18, 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 Nick Moroni
