Simply having a terrible Christmas time
On Christmas Day around 3:30 p.m., an officer saw a man traveling down the south side of the 7300 block of Madison Street “tearing up all the Christmas decorations and garbage cans along Madison Street.” Christmas decorative garlands were uprooted from village planters and thrown in the street, and plastic garbage bags and bins were pulled out and tossed on the sidewalk. Officers arrested a 50-year-old Chicago man who had by then entered Starbucks and yelled at employees. Damage was estimated by Public Works at $1,000. The man was charged with felony damage to public property.
Dancing in the street
Around 7 p.m., Dec. 26, Forest Park police observed a 20-year-old man from Fishers, Indiana “dancing in the middle of the street” in the 600 block of Elgin Avenue. When officers shined a bright light on the man, he “lay down in the middle of the street with complete disregard for my moving vehicle.” Taken into custody, he was charged with reckless conduct.
560 grams of pot, one screaming man
Officers observed the driver of a 2014 Dodge Charger not wearing his seatbelt around 12:18 a.m., Dec. 27. When officers flashed their emergency lights and turned on the siren, the 29-year-old male driver continued on without stopping or slowing down. The Charger was curbed at Roosevelt Road and Troost Avenue when a second squad car showed up. Reports said the driver jumped out of the car and attempted to lock the doors while screaming for someone in a nearby multi-unit building to help him. Officers, fearing he was armed, ordered him to lie on the ground, which he ignored and continued to scream. An officer finally “escorted him to the ground,” where he continued to struggle until officers marched him to a squad car. They noticed a strong smell of fresh cannabis coming from the Dodge and, after a search, uncovered 560 grams of cannabis, heat-sealed in plastic in a shopping bag plus $360 in cash. Jason T. Farris, 29, of Chicago was charged with felony possession of cannabis over 30 grams, not wearing a seatbelt, traffic violations, including license suspended, and resisting an officer.
Grazing at Walmart
Forest Park police were called to Walmart around 5:20 p.m., Dec. 27, after store security guards said a man and woman, age 30 and 27, were pushing around a shopping cart and eating candy and a bag of cherries. The pair, from Brookfield, finished their snack, left the cart with the empty packaging and reportedly exited the store without paying. Forest Park police issued local ordinance citations for retail theft.
Two customers at Walmart, Dec. 28, tried to pay for merchandise totaling $719.74 with seven counterfeit $100 bills. The pair, a man and woman, both around 40 years old, fled the store when a cashier noticed the fakes. Police were unable to track them down.
Underage drinkers at Slainte
Officers stopped by Slainte, 7505 Madison St., around 1 a.m., Dec. 27, for an underage drinkers sweep and found a 20-year-old woman from North Riverside who was hoping a fake ID would keep her out of trouble. She was issued a local ordinance ticket for misrepresenting her age to obtain alcohol.
These items were obtained from the records of the Forest Park Police Department, Dec. 21-28, 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
