Police spotted a car with headlights off driving west on Randolph Street at 2:05 a.m. on July 29. Officers checked the car in their automated data system, which revealed the Ford was stolen from an address in Chicago. They attempted to curb the car at the intersection of Jackson Boulevard and Madison Street.
Instead of stopping, the driver accelerated to 60 miles per hour down Madison Street, running a red light through the Harlem Avenue intersection. The vehicle crashed at the intersection of Madison Street and Wisconsin Avenue in Oak Park, where it struck a sign and a parked car. The driver and passenger fled from the vehicle.
Hit-and-run severely damages garage
Neighbors awoke at 7:45 a.m. on Aug. 2 to find the side of a garage on the 900 block of Troost Avenue collapsed.
The garage was “severely damaged,” with the structure partially collapsed and the overhead door destroyed and inoperable, according to a police report. The neighbor told police she last saw the garage at 10:45 p.m. the night before, and that it was intact.
Outside the garage, police found several pieces of plastic that appeared to come from the front and side of a Toyota. Officers spotted a Lexus, which is made by Toyota, with “severe” driver and passenger side damage, parked at the intersection of Lexington Street and Harlem Avenue.
The owner told police his car was a) in the shop, b) parked down the street, and c) torn up by someone else. Eventually, he admitted to crashing his car into the garage and then leaving the area.
He was charged with hit-and-run.
Sobered by warrant after drinking in car
Police received a call about a group of women standing in the street and yelling at one another at 2:33 a.m. on Aug. 4 on the 1100 block of Thomas Avenue. Officers responded to the scene, and found at least 20 people in the street, gathered around several cars. Most left when police arrived.
Officers saw an open bottle of alcohol in the back of one of the cars as the driver attempted to leave the scene. They asked the backseat passenger to exit the vehicle. As he stepped out of the car, an open bottle of champagne fell on the street.
A name check revealed that the passenger had an active warrant for possession of cannabis, failure to yield to emergency vehicles, and driving while intoxicated. He was transported to the police station where he was booked on the warrant.
BB gunman ‘just being stupid’
A home on the 600 block of Hannah Avenue reportedly was hit with a BB gun at about 9:57 p.m. on July 30 for the second time in a less than a month.
The owner pointed police to an upstairs window, which had a BB pellet-sized crack in the glass. On July 26, several of their windows had also been shot out with a BB gun.
The man’s video doorbell system captured the incident on tape, and showed two men shooting at the home and then entering the back of the neighbor’s property.
Police walked to the neighbor’s house and asked if the family’s sons were home. The children’s parents escorted police inside and the sons denied owning a BB gun and shooting at their neighbor’s home. The mother and father likewise said there were no firearms in the home.
Police noticed a BB pellet-sized crack in the home’s basement window. When he pointed out the crack to the home’s owner, she gave him permission to search the home for a BB gun.
Underneath a bed in the basement, police uncovered an empty BB gun box. In a safe in the bedroom, police discovered BB gun pellets. They showed the items to the young men, who told police there was a BB gun in a locked cabinet in the basement. One of them, age 21, admitted to shooting the neighbor’s home.
“I was just being stupid,” he said.
He was transported to the police station, where he became upset and yelled, “They get what they deserve!” He was charged with criminal damage to property.
Burglar lifts gun from car
At some point between noon on Aug. 3 and 8 a.m. on Aug. 4, someone stole a gun, cosmetic case, vitamins, medication and a curling iron from a car parked on the 7200 block of Madison Street.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 29-Aug. 4, 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.
