Snatches phone, shows gun
A Chicago man reportedly approached a boy at 1101 Harlem Ave. about 4:16 p.m. on Jan. 10, asking if he could use the 15-year-old’s phone. The boy was walking to meet his mother at the dentist’s office and replied no.
Darius Long, 21, of Chicago, allegedly snatched the phone from the boy’s hands, walked away, dialed a number and started talking to someone, saying “C’mon let’s go get the keys so I can get inside.” The boy followed, asking for his phone.
Long lifted up his shirt, and showed the boy a gun on his right hip. “Get the [expletive] out of here,” he told the 15-year-old. The boy ran to the dentist’s office, where his mom called 911. He told police what happened, talking the incident through several times before he could provide an accurate account.
On Jan. 14, the victim’s father provided police with two numbers that had been dialed on the phone. Police traced the calls, and found they came from a Chicago address that Long had used prior to an arrest for a similar crime. Four days later, the 15-year-old positively identified Long as the robber in a photo lineup for police.
On Jan. 21, police went to the Austin neighborhood in Chicago, where Long’s address was listed. They took him into custody, and police say he admitted to taking the phone. He received a felony charge of robbery, as well as aggravated robbery.
Mechanic pinned under Chevy
A mechanic was working on a Chevrolet Silverado at Elite Tire and Auto Repair about 2:44 p.m. on Jan. 22, when the car slipped off the lift and fell on the River Grove man. He yelled for help and coworkers rushed over, using a jack to lift the vehicle. The mechanic was transported to Loyola University Medical Center for treatment.
Car stolen near the Blue Line
Two men stole an Arlington Heights woman’s Chevrolet Prizm, after she gave them a ride to the Forest Park Blue Line station about 11:28 a.m. on Jan. 22. She said she saw the men walking at Concordia Cemetery and drove them to the Blue Line parking lot. When she got out of the car to smoke a cigar, she said the men drove off with her car. Police observed the woman acting “erratically and unfocused, likely due to drug abuse,” according to the report.
Burglary at Mom’s Place
Sometime between 4 p.m. on Jan. 21 and 7:30 a.m. on Jan. 22, someone broke the front window of Mom’s Place, 819 Harlem Ave., and stole $3,390 in cash from the restaurant’s cash register and owner’s office.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Jan. 21-27, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
Compiled by Nona Tepper
