Driver fleeing ‘the boot’ runs over officer’s foot
A woman who told police she was homeless and afraid of losing her van injured a Forest Park police officer by running over his foot after he told her he needed to clamp a Denver boot on the vehicle around 12:45 p.m., Feb. 25. The 57-year-old woman, whose last known address was in Oak Park, was sitting in her 1999 black Lexus in front of the Forest Park Public Library, 532 Desplaines Ave., when an officer approached and told her to exit the car because her vehicle was on the unpaid parking ticket list. He invited the driver to cross the street to the Forest Park Police Station and pay the fines to release the car. She reportedly asked the officer if she could go into the library to call her pastor. When the officer stepped back to radio the plate number to a dispatcher, the driver allegedly put the car into gear and started to pull out of the parking spot. One of the tires ran up over the cop’s left foot and up his shin. The officer fell onto the hood of the Lexus and ordered her to stop. She did so, according to police reports. The driver was charged with aggravated battery to a police officer.
Strong-arm robbery
Police were summoned to the 7-Eleven in the 1000 block of Desplaines Avenue around 8:40 p.m., Feb. 25, after a victim said two men had attacked him from behind as he walked home along Desplaines from the CTA Blue Line stop. The victim, age 54, said he was pushed to the ground and one man with a teardrop tattoo under each eye, began to kick him. While the man was on the ground, the two men went through his pockets, removing his wallet and cellphone. They then fled westbound on Roosevelt Road near the Hawk Dodge car dealership. The victim walked to 7-Eleven and contacted police, who searched the area but did not find the offenders. The offenders were described as being in their early 20s.
Burglary
An apartment in the 7500 block of Jackson Boulevard was discovered ransacked around 3 p.m., Feb. 24. The owner told police he arrived home and found his wallet, piggy banks and clothing strewn around the apartment. The front door deadbolt lock was open and a link on the security chain had been pried apart. Missing were $180, a driver’s license and insurance cards, as well as silver dollars from the piggy banks.
Valuables lifted from unlocked car
A man told police someone reached into his unlocked 2012 Chevy Impala and removed pieces of identification from his car console. The man said he left the Chevy unlocked while he entered Refiners Pride gas station, 7323 Randolph St., around 9:45 p.m., Feb. 25. When he returned to his car, his driver’s license, FOID card and other IDs were missing.
Catalytic converter stolen
A woman told police someone cut the catalytic converter from her 2004 Chevy Cavalier while it was parked in the public lot at Elgin Avenue and Madison Street sometime Feb. 23-25. Damage was estimated at $884.
Distracted driver curbed
The 38-year-old Mount Prospect driver of a 2014 red Jeep told police she failed to yield to a pedestrian crossing the street in a crosswalk at Desplaines Avenue and Monroe Street because she was “plugging in my phone and didn’t see anyone crossing the street.” Officers curbed the car and issued her a local ordinance citation for failure to yield to a pedestrian.
Smash and grab
Someone smashed the driver’s side window of a 2004 Toyota Highlander parked at the Ed’s Way food store sometime between Feb. 28 and March 1. Removed was a Cobra radar detector. Estimated loss was $100.
‘Drive-off’ steals $88 worth of gas
A clerk at Thornton’s gas station told police a man in a 1999 Dodge Caravan pulled up at pump No. 8 and filled up his tank plus a red gas can with petrol but did not pay for the gas. The officer arrived at the station and observed the clerk waving to him from inside the shop, indicating the van exiting the station was “doing a drive-off.” Police followed the Dodge with sirens and lights blaring as it merged onto the westbound I-290 expressway for a mile. Officers curbed the car on the right shoulder of the highway near the Des Plaines River. The driver, a 46-year-old man from Quincy, told police he was stranded, had no money and was sleeping in his van. He was charged with felony theft of 22.163 gallons of gas, based on a prior theft conviction.
Blazing Impala
A Chevy Impala caught fire in the Walmart parking lot around 2 p.m., March 2. Forest Park police arrived to find the smoke and flames billowing from the car. A 34-year-old woman told police it was her daughter’s car, and she had smelled smoke and gone inside the shop to “get help.” The Forest Park Fire Dept. assisted in extinguishing the fire. The car was towed and she was given a report for insurance purposes.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Feb. 23-March 2, 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
