iPhone snatcher flees across Ike
After a mid-afternoon chase where a suspected phone robber fled over train tracks and across the Eisenhower Expressway on foot, police finally apprehended a 33-year-old Chicago man as he crossed the concrete median of the highway on Jan. 8. The victim and another witness on the Blue Line train identified the man as the person who had grabbed her white iPhone from her hand. The man was charged with robbery.
Driver of pot-smelling car tasered
Forest Park police on Jan 11 chased and tasered a 22-year-old Bellwood man after an officer ran a license plate on the man’s parked Kia Spectra around 2 p.m. and found that the owner had two outstanding warrants for possession of cannabis. The officer knocked on the auto window and informed man of the warrants, whereupon he replied, “That’s b—–!” The officer told him the car smelled like cannabis, and the man rolled up his window and grabbed the gear shaft. He did finally exit the vehicle, but the officer reported that he was agitated and appeared to be about to flee.
When the man pulled away to avoid being handcuffed and fled on foot, the officer unholstered and deployed his Taser X26, striking the man in the back. He fell to the ground and was handcuffed. Police recovered a plastic baggie with 13 grams of a green substance that resembled cannabis. He was charged with battery, resisting a peace officer and unlawful possession of pot, as well as the two outstanding warrants.
Joliet man caught with heroin
Police observed a gold Nissan Maxima with an obstructed windshield in the 7200 block of Roosevelt Road around 3:35 p.m. on Jan. 12. When the officer curbed the Nissan, he observed the three male occupants making furtive movements in the car. One man, James R. Stenberg, 27, of Joliet had two outstanding warrants for his arrest. He also had a hidden pocket in his jeans from which officers recovered four clear zip-lock baggies with a powdery substance that tested positive for heroin. The other two men were released without charges. Stenberg was charged with possession of a controlled substance and outstanding warrants.
Theft of auto
A 2012 silver Nissan was discovered stolen from the back of building in the 300 block of Harlem around 7 p.m. on Jan. 12. Reviewing a surveillance video, police observed a male wearing bulky clothing who entered the driver’s side door and drove off down the alley. The car owner said his car was locked and that no one else had keys. Police were unable to find the car.
Home burglarized, credit cards used
A man in the 800 block of Dunlop found his side door pried open and his house ransacked around 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 13. He told police he had just surrendered his dogs to an animal shelter because a housemate with cats was moving in. While he was gone, the house was burglarized. A stolen wallet, filled with credit cards was found missing. Also taken were a passport, silver certificates, and a large glass bottle of change. Police found the broken bottle with spilled change in a nearby gangway and evidence technicians swabbed blood from the broken glass for DNA samples. The man’s credit card company informed him his credit cards had been used in Maywood the same day.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Jan. 5-12, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anyone named in the report has only been charged with a crime.
