A 66-year-old Des Plaines man was found dead near the CTA Blue Line maintenance garage at 711 Desplaines Ave. around 6 p.m. on July 21. Police reports said Raymond J. Lynch was found lying between the electrified third rail and a northbound rail. He was declared dead and transported to the Chicago medical examiner’s office.
CTA robbers dart across expressway
A 23-year-old Forest Park man was robbed at gunpoint on the CTA Blue Line train July 18 around 3:40 a.m. at the Oak Park stop, police said. Two men allegedly confronted the victim and one displayed a handgun, stating, “Don’t move. This is a robbery.” The men took the victim’s cellphone, and then reached into his pocket and removed a second cellphone. They exited the train at Oak Park Avenue, the victim continued on to the Harlem stop where he exited the train and called 911 from a Thornton’s gas station payphone.
Oak Park police observed two men on the Oak Park station platform, who allegedly dropped the cellphones and gun and jumped onto the Blue Line tracks. They then scaled a fence and ran across westbound I-290 and up the embankment, where they were apprehended by police. Terrell L. Jones, 20, and Otire Woods, 22, both of Chicago, were charged with armed robbery. The firearm was determined to be a pellet gun.
Purse missing after tavern girl-fight
A black, gray and white Coach purse worth $150 turned up missing after an altercation between four women at Doc Ryan’s around 1:40 a.m. on July 22. Two female cousins, age 21 and 22, told police they were dancing when a 25-year-old woman from Montgomery bumped into them without excusing herself. Reportedly, words were exchanged, which turned into hair pulling, grabbing and face-pushing 25 minutes later, according to police reports. A fourth woman, from Berwyn, 22, jumped into the fray and when the scuffle was broken up by bar security, the purse was gone. Inside were keys, an iPhone with a pink and black case and $45 in cash. Police reports noted that the Berwyn woman had previously received a local ordinance ticket for public fighting.
Helluva ride home
A man, whom police said was inebriated and attempting to give three passengers a ride home, crashed his blue 2003 Ford Explorer into a parked car, knocked down a utility pole, hit a garbage can and knocked a newspaper kiosk through the window of Athena’s Silverland Desserts. A witness said he saw the 29-year-old Berwyn man’s car near the Blueberry Hill tavern and saw it strike a parked Chevy Lumina, knocking three of its tires up onto the sidewalk on July 22 around 5:20 p.m. The Explorer then continued down Desplaines, jumping the curb at 439 Desplaines where it hit the pole, trashcan and kiosk. The car continued until it hit a fire hydrant on the southwest corner of Desplaines and Adams.
The man refused a breathalyzer test but was charged with DUI, resisting arrest, improper lane usage and criminal damage to property.
Asleep in parking garage
Police were summoned to a garage in the 7400 block of Randolph Street after witnesses observed a man lying on the floor of the parking garage in front of a bicycle. When he was awakened, the 26-year-old Chicago man told police his sister lived in the building, and he fell asleep waiting for her to come home. He reportedly denied all knowledge of the bicycle. Officers said they noticed a clear plastic bag next to his hand with eight individually wrapped bags containing a green leafy substance. They also searched his backpack, which was found to contain bolt cutters, vice grips and a flash light, which police considered burglary tools.
He was charged with one count of possession of cannabis.
Shoplifting hunting knives
An 18-year-old Chicago man was observed hiding two hunting knives on his person at the Kmart in the 7600 block of Roosevelt Road around noon on July 20, then walking out the door. When a police officer arrived, he reportedly fled northbound through the parking lot and down the 1100 block of Dunlop. He was caught by another officer around Yuba and Dunlop.
Police recovered one Gerber ParaFrame 2.25-inch knife, worth $24.90, and the man was charged with misdemeanor retail theft.
Hammer through the window
A 21-year-old man told police that two men approached him in the 400 block of Beloit at 3 a.m. on July 21 and started an argument, which he tried to avoid by entering his 1997 black Saturn and attempting to drive away. The men allegedly flung a hammer at his car, breaking the glass on the passenger side window, he told police. Then one of the men, age 25 from Addison, allegedly chased the man in a maroon 1993 Oldsmobile 88 and struck the passenger side of the Saturn, scraping both doors and the front quarter panel and breaking the passenger side rear-view mirror. The Saturn driver passed a squad car and reported the hit and run. The driver of the Olds was found to be driving with a suspended license. His passenger had two outstanding warrants for his arrest.
The Olds driver was charged with criminal damage to property, failure to give information after an accident, leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a suspended license.
– Compiled by Jean Lotus
