Bar brawler pees on police station floor
Forest Park police responded to the report of a fight at Short Stop Lounge, 7425 Madison St., around 1 a.m., June 3. When they arrived, police reportedly found an employee pinning a 26-year-old Forest Park man to the ground who was screaming obscenities and struggling. Bartenders told police the man, who appeared intoxicated, had been causing a disturbance at the bar by approaching patrons and allegedly threatening to beat them. When he was being escorted from the premises, the man reportedly struck an employee on the right side of the face, causing a red swelling. The employee told police he wished to press charges for battery. The man was taken to the police station, “still enraged” according to reports, and reportedly told police, “Unhandcuff me! I will go UFC on your ass! I will kill you! I will crush you!” Still handcuffed, the man reportedly said he needed to urinate and demanded the handcuffs be removed. According to reports, police officers told him to calm down and they would remove the handcuffs. The man reportedly then urinated on the detention cell floor, as he continued the stream of obscenities. He was charged with misdemeanor counts of battery, disorderly conduct and criminal defacement of property.
Cognac snatched in smash-and-grab
Police responded to an alarm call from USA Liquors at Madison and Harlem around 6 a.m., June 3. Responding officers found a plate glass display window smashed by a large chunk of concrete. An officer was waved down by a citizen who said she observed a man grabbing something from out of the window and fleeing westbound through the alley behind the liquor store. Upon closer inspection of the broken window, police noted that a display for Hennessy cognac had been disturbed and it appeared a 750 ml bottle of Hennessy was missing. The owner of the store confirmed the cognac was stolen and gave a value of $29.99. Police were not able to find the suspect in the area although his image was caught on surveillance video.
Employee car stolen from Walmart lot
A Walmart employee reported to police that while she worked her shift, the afternoon of June 3, her white 1999 Mercury Sable was removed from the employee parking lot. Last week an employee’s catalytic converter was removed from a car parked in the same lot.
“Lottery winner” scams Walmart customer out of $14K
Police reported a woman came to the station around 2 p.m., June 4, saying she had just been fooled into giving $14,000 to two people she met at Walmart. The 67-year-old woman told police a man approached her in the department store and in broken English began to ask her questions. A woman unknown to the victim then approached and offered to translate. A long conversation reportedly followed about immigration woes and the man’s quest to obtain a green card. The man then produced a lottery ticket and the victim called a number on a cellphone where a person on the other line stated the ticket was a winner, totaling $200,000. The man reportedly said that, due to his citizenship problems, he was unable to cash the ticket. He asked the victim for $30,000 to procure a fraudulent green card in order to cash in on the winnings. In exchange for this, he told the two women he would give them each $100,000. The victim agreed and drove both perpetrators to a residence where the woman accomplice allegedly collected her “half” of the money. The victim then drove to Bank of America where she withdrew $3,300 from her bank account and credit cards. She then drove the two to her house where she obtained another $10,700 in cash. The three proceeded to Jewel on the 7500 block of Lake Street in River Forest, where the male and female con artists reportedly slipped away with the victim’s money.
Old Style in car, heroin in sock
Police curbed a 1997 maroon Subaru in the 1400 block of Harlem Avenue around 5:20 p.m., June 5, after the driver was observed to not to be wearing a seat belt. Police observed two open cans of Old Style beer in the passenger compartment and then observed the passenger allegedly making a furtive movement in the vehicle and, fearing a weapon might be present, asked the passenger, Henry L. Clark, 36, of Chicago to exit the vehicle. During a safety pat-down, a heat-sealed baggie reportedly fell out of Clark’s left sock containing two smaller, knotted plastic bags with an off-white substance that field-tested positive for heroin. Clark was placed in custody and taken to the station. He reportedly stated that the driver had just purchased the heroin for $100 and given it to him in the car. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance for 2 grams of heroin. The driver was given two traffic citations and released from the scene
Backpack snatched through window
A Swiss army backpack was removed through the open window of a 2007 Saturn parked in the 200 block of Elgin overnight June 8. The victim told police the backpack contained an HP laptop computer worth $700 and a WD external hard drive, valued at $120.
Burglars steal jewelry, electronics and art
Police responded to a burglary report in the 1000 block of Lathrop around 5:40 p.m., June 5. The woman who lived in the residence told police she had arrived home after work and discovered her rear door had been forced open with a pry-type tool and her house ransacked. Taken were a Sony Brava 46-inch television, an Apple TV black box, a Sony HDRAX professional grade video camera and a white jewelry box containing a yellow-gold ring set with eight diamonds. The offenders also reportedly removed a piece of three-dimensional art featuring an antique camera with an accordion style collapsing lens mounted in a white frame. Witnesses next door told police they observed an unknown man entering the residence around noon who stayed inside for about 20 minutes, exiting into an illegally parked sedan nearby containing two other men.
Storage unit burglaries
A tenant called police after hearing banging noises from the direction of a basement storage unit around 12:45 p.m., June 8, in an apartment building in the 200 block of Marengo. Police found no one in the basement but did observe pry marks and a cracked door on the storage unit.
A storage unit in a building in the 900 block of Marengo was burglarized around 1 a.m. Neighbors allegedly heard pounding in the basement and disregarded the sounds thinking they were just other tenants. A pry tool was used to break open the unit. Removed were hand tools and a Dura stereo system with four speakers.
Underage drinking
Police found a group of Oak Park teenagers stumbling near the intersection of Rockford and Franklin around 1:45 a.m. on June 6 and noted a female, age 19, who was allegedly lying on the sidewalk moaning and appeared to be incapacitated. The underage group told police they had convinced a “homeless person” to purchase a bottle of “Ever Clear” grain alcohol, which they poured into a water bottle and had been drinking all evening. Two males told police they were trying to carry the woman home to River Forest. She was reportedly unable to walk and spoke incoherently. The woman was taken to Rush Oak Park Hospital and the males, 19 and 16, were given underage drinking citations and turned over to parents.
Police observed a group of young pedestrians around 1:30 a.m., June 7, walking in the 300 block of Desplaines Avenue and observed a man throw a beer bottle into the air and let it fall and shatter in the street. As the officer exited the squad car, he observed the bottle-throwing individual drop something and kick it beneath a parked car. It turned out to be a passport belonging to the older brother of the Oak Park man, age 20, who was allegedly using the passport as an ID to be served alcohol. He was charged with illegal consumption of alcohol by a minor and disorderly conduct. The passport was confiscated.
Chased with a vodka bottle
A resident told police he was threatened and chased around 10:20 a.m. June 9 by a 43-year-old Kenosha man brandishing an empty vodka bottle after he ordered him to stop digging through the trash cans in the parking lot of Forest Home Cemetery in the 800 block of Desplaines Avenue. The Kenosha man allegedly became irate and grabbed a large glass Absolut Vodka bottle and stated, “I’ll teach you a lesson. Run your b—- a— into the cemetery.” The victim related he ran away and the offender gave chase with the bottle as if to strike him. When police arrived, the man reportedly had the bottle in his hand, which he dropped behind a tree. He was charged with one count of aggravated assault.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, June 3-9, 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.
