On the morning of Sept. 25, police arrested a Forest Park man who was found passed out in a car with the door wide open. According to the police report, drugs were found on the man.

Thirty-one-year-old Brian Erwin was found slumped over in the passenger seat with the door open when the reporting officer arrived and tried several times to awaken him. After several tries, the officer managed to stir Erwin although the suspect was barely coherent.

Erwin told the officer he was looking for his keys, which were in his hands. The officer pointed this out before taking them away.

The officer found a flask and a “cylinder-like container” attached to the keys. The flask contained an unidentified liquid, and the container had an unspecified amount of heroin in it.

Erwin was taken into custody and charged with possessing a controlled substance.  

  

Woman nabbed in car with heroin

A 21-year-old Glen Ellyn woman was arrested for drug possession, early Sept. 22, after an officer reportedly spotted her in a car with a needle and a spoon.

The officer saw Amanda Centa in the passenger’s seat of a car parked in Thornton’s gas station, 601 Harlem Ave., with the paraphernalia.

The officer approached the car and tried to talk with her. Centa said she was waiting for two friends to come back from the gas station.

When she stepped out of the car, the officer reported seeing a one-gram bag of heroin on the seat. Centa was arrested.

Two other persons were with her, but neither said they knew anything about the heroin, so they were both released at the scene.

Centa was taken to headquarters and charged with possessing a controlled substance.

 

‘Driving too fast’ to catch up

A Berwyn man who was allegedly driving over the speed limit, in what he described as an attempt to keep up with another vehicle, was arrested, early Sept. 22, for a having a suspended driver’s license and for several traffic violations.

Cesar Garcia, 24, was reportedly speeding down Harlem Avenue, between the 1100 and 1400 blocks, weaving in and out of lanes and committing various violations, before an officer managed to stop him.

When the officer spoke with Garcia, he admitted driving “too fast” but said he was doing so to keep up with another car.

The officer then checked Garcia’s name in a police computer and learned that the suspect’s license was suspended. He was arrested, taken to headquarters and charged with driving with a suspended license, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, improper passing, improper lane usage, speeding and reckless driving.

 

Caught with a stolen bike

Police arrested two men on the afternoon of Sept. 19 after noticing that one of them was riding a bicycle that resembled a bike that had been reported stolen on Sept. 13.

Javaris Williams, 18, of Forest Park, and another man were stopped by an officer on the 1200 block of Marengo for “suspicious” behavior after the officer noticed them first on foot and then on bicycles.

According to the police report, the bike Williams was riding resembled one that had been stolen from the Walgreens parking lot at 7200 Roosevelt Rd. on Sept. 13.

At some point during an interview with police, Williams implicated a friend named “Mont” in the theft of the bike. Williams was subsequently arrested.

The person he was with was also taken into custody, but no charges were filed against him.

Williams was charged with being in possession of stolen property.

 

Warrant for probation violation

An Oak Park man was arrested on the morning of Sept. 23 after police stopped him for a traffic violation and learned he was wanted out of Iowa for a probation violation.

Fifty-year-old Joseph Donato was stopped on the 900 block of Lathrop Avenue in Forest Park for allegedly failing to signal at the intersection of Lathrop Avenue and Lexington Street.

Donato didn’t have any insurance, a driver’s license or any form of ID, so the reporting officer ran his name through a police computer and learned that he was wanted in Polk County, Iowa for a probation violation.

The Oak Parker was taken into custody and charged with driving on a suspended license, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, failure to signal, and having an out-of-state warrant.

These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Sept. 19-25, and represent only a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime.

-Compiled by Nick Moroni