This snowblower? I found it.
Forest Park police, patrolling around 4 a.m., Nov. 4, observed a 46-year-old Chicago man pushing a snowblower down the street near Roosevelt Road and Marengo Avenue. Police inquired why he was pushing a snowblower at that time of night with no snow present. He told police, “I found it on the sidewalk next to the car wash, so I just took it.” Around 7 a.m. the next day, a woman in the 800 block of Lathrop Avenue reported to police that her garage had been burglarized. She identified the snowblower as her own, which had been removed without permission from the garage. The man in custody was charged with theft of mislaid property.
Ex-Marine, ‘trained to kill all of you’
A man well-known to management at the Dunkin’ Donuts, 7200 Circle Ave., entered the restaurant around 10 p.m., Nov. 4, after having been warned to stay off the premises. Police were summoned and the man, age 54, refused to identify himself. “You are going to have to arrest me to get me to leave!” he stated, accurately predicting the course of events. As he was handcuffed, he reportedly exclaimed, “I’m an ex-Marine and I’m trained to kill all of you!”
At the Forest Park police station, he was fingerprinted and identified; then he was cited with a local ordinance violation for obstructing an officer and released.
Enjoy your day
A Walmart cashier, age 22, from Chicago, summoned Forest Park police around 8 p.m., Nov. 6. The woman said she got into a dispute with another woman who was her child’s father’s girlfriend, as she was ringing her up on register No. 14. The argument turned physical and the other woman allegedly spit on her hair and arm. The woman, age 27, from Bellwood, had already fled the store when police arrived, but store security said the incident was captured on surveillance video. No charges were filed.
Medical meddling gets ticket
Forest Park police and ambulance personnel responded to a call around 2 a.m., Nov. 7, for a female subject “passed out in the hallway” on the second floor of a building in the 7700 block of Adams Street. When they arrived, a 31-year-old Forest Park man, who identified himself as the victim’s boyfriend, began to interfere with emergency staff who were trying to get the impaired woman into a chairlift. In spite of being asked to “step back and step aside” so his girlfriend could be treated for her “intoxicated state,” the man continued to step in front of paramedics and reportedly said, “Ya’ll not taking her anywhere. This is my house, my building and ya’ll can leave.” Police placed him in handcuffs and pulled him aside while paramedics did their job. He was issued a local ordinance citation for obstructing an officer and then taken to the hospital to check on the status of his girlfriend.
Traffic stop yields .38 special, wad of cash
Police pulled over a 43-year-old Forest Park man whose license plate data indicated he had a revoked driver’s license and had an active warrant from the Chicago Police Dept. for reckless driving. Police curbed the man’s 2006 Chevrolet sedan around 5:15 p.m., Nov. 7, in the parking lot of McDonald’s, 417 N. Harlem Ave. in River Forest. During a safety pat-down, the man was found to have a large bundle of cash in his pants pocket. The bundle contained more than $3,000, police said. A check of the vehicle by a K-9 drug-sniffing dog revealed no narcotics, but police did uncover a loaded European Armory revolver .38 Special, 357 magnum handgun, wrapped in a stocking cap.
Because the owner had a FOID card and paid his bail, he was released and the gun was returned to him. He was charged with driving with license suspended.
Waking up on the wrong side of the train
Police were summoned to the Desplaines Avenue Blue Line CTA station around 2:30 a.m. after a CTA employee said he was battered by an intoxicated patron. The 60-year-old employee told police he had found the 29-year-old Chicago man asleep on the train and woke him. The awakened man chased the CTA employee off the train and allegedly struck him on the cheek with a closed fist. The two struggled on the platform and fell down, with the employee trying to hold the man down until police arrived. But the man struggled free. Police reported he “appeared to be enraged, pacing back and forth like a caged animal and shouting toward other CTA employees on the platform.” The man was taken into custody with no incidents and told officers, through a Spanish interpreter, that he had just had surgery and had pain in the back of his head. He was charged with one count of battery.
Garage door opener dispute leads to battery charge
Police were summoned around 10 p.m., Nov. 8, to a disturbance reported in the 7220 block of Washington Boulevard. When they arrived, the argument involved possession of a garage door opener. When police asked for identification, a 32-year-old man told them he would not give his name. Police also asked a 24-year-old woman for her name, and the man reportedly said, “Get her name. I’m not giving you my name until she gives you her name.” He turned around and presented his hands behind his back, according to reports. The woman allegedly began to scream as police loaded the man into the back of a squad car. Officers advised her to stop yelling and threatened her with arrest for obstructing justice. According to reports, she continued to scream, “I don’t have to be quiet, I know my rights!” After being told she was under arrest, she allegedly refused to place her hands behind her back, then twisted away from officers and swung a closed fist at an officer (missing) and escaped, running into the residence and locking the back door. Police entered through the front door, arrested her in the living room and charged her with battery and resisting arrest. The man was charged with disorderly conduct.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Nov. 4-8, 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.
—Compiled by Jean Lotus
