Pedestrian struck by Jeep early New Year’s Day
Police observed a woman lying in the street near Circle Avenue and Madison Street around 3:40 a.m., Jan. 1, with another woman standing over her who appeared to be providing aid. The friend told police an older model tan Jeep Cherokee had struck the woman and then fled on Randolph eastbound. The victim’s friend provided a license plate number to police which matched a 1996 Jeep registered to Henry P. Bachner, Jr., 50, of Forest Park. The victim was transported to Loyola University Medical Center.
Police went to the address where the jeep was registered and noted the vehicle was parked behind the residence and appeared to have just been parked, due to fresh tire tracks and footprints leading to the building. Bachner was reportedly wearing a winter hat, and had snow on his shoes. Allegedly, he was unsteady on his feet, his speech was slurred, and he appeared intoxicated. The man denied being in an accident, but reportedly said, “Why are you here? Did I hurt someone?” He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident, failure to provide aid, failure to report an accident, no insurance and failure to yield to a pedestrian.
Burglary to auto
A woman in the 600 block of Ferdinand Avenue told police she walked onto her back porch around midnight, Dec. 27, to remote-start her 2003 Nissan Altima. When she pushed the button, an unknown man jumped out of the car and began running down the alley. She said she had left the car locked, but police found no signs of forced entry. Around $20 in change was missing from the center console.
Post-Christmas shoplifting spree
Walmart security called Forest Park police after two women tried to exit the store with two carts loaded with toiletries and a 46-inch Sony color television, worth $498, around 3:50 p.m., Dec. 28. Security said the two lingered near the self-checkout, then told a greeter they had items they needed to return without a receipt. After being pointed toward the customer service center, the two bolted out the door with carts in tow. One woman, from Chicago, 44, was detained by Walmart staff, but the second, 27, from DeKalb, ran through the parking lot and was found by Forest Park police in the bathrooms of the Kmart store next door. The woman with toiletries told police she was unemployed and needed the items for her personal use. She was charged with misdemeanor retail theft. The other suspect requested to speak to her lawyer, saying she had a pending retail theft case in Chicago. She was charged with felony retail theft.
Footprints lead to Lucky Dog
A man told police he noticed his garage in the 1300 block of Circle Avenue had been pried open, overnight Dec. 31. He said $40 in cash and an army-green backpack were removed from the 1998 Toyota Camry left inside. The man said he followed footprints in the freshly fallen snow, which led from his garage eastbound on 15th Street to Marengo Avenue and then southbound again to 16th Street, where they crossed Harlem Avenue and seemed to end in the Lucky Dog parking lot. He told police he then went to work and didn’t report the crime until after 1 p.m. Police were unable to retrace the thief’s trail.
Other burglaries
A couple in the 200 block of Elgin were awakened around 7 a.m., Dec. 29, by the man’s cellphone, which showed a call from the woman’s phone, which she had left on the dining room table the night before. Downstairs, the couple found the dining room window open and a large plant had been knocked to the floor. Missing were an HP laptop computer, a Sony camcorder and an iPad, as well as the woman’s AT&T cellphone. The woman checked her phone records online and found a call had been made with her phone to his, as well as to another unknown number. The investigation continues.
A man told police he stepped out to go to the grocery store around 1:30 p.m., Dec. 31, and when he returned an hour later to his residence in the 7200 block of Randolph, he found the rear door had been forced in and his home ransacked. Missing were a Wahl hair trimmer, a box of Bolivar Cofradia cigars and an antique rocket ship ceramic lamp. Estimated loss was $515.
Hit-and-run arrest
Forest Park police arrested a 29-year-old Berwyn woman after finding her front license plate and the grill of her 2012 Jeep embedded in the side of a 2013 Hyundai parked in the 800 block of Circle Avenue around 8:36 p.m., Dec. 30. When dispatchers matched the car and sent officers to question her in Berwyn, they called her first and she hung up on them. When Forest Park police arrived at the residence registered to the owner, they questioned the driver’s mother, who said her daughter had the car. According to police, the driver then came home and admitted to driving the vehicle and fleeing, saying she got scared. She was charged with leaving the scene of a property-damage-only accident.
Drunk in a cab
A 25-year-old man was ejected from Doc Ryan’s, 7432 Madison St., earlier in the early morning of Jan. 1 after striking a bar employee. He was later arrested for causing a disturbance in the cab hailed to take him home. The 29-year-old Stone Park resident was escorted out of the bar, where the employee declined to press charges for the alleged battery, but his behavior didn’t improve in the cab and police were summoned again to remove him for public intoxication. He was issued a local ordinance citation.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Dec. 29-Jan.1, 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
