A woman was given a local ordinance citation for battery for spitting on a CTA employee at 711 Desplaines Avenue on May 20 at 5:31 a.m.

Police were called when the woman opened the handicapped gate and allowed people to enter without paying. When the CTA employee told the woman to knock it off, an unknown man yelled at the employee, telling her to “mind her own damn business.” He then spit on the glass of the booth and left.

The woman closed the gate, walked over to the communication hole in the glass, and spit through it. Although the CTA employee put her hand up to stop the spit from entering the booth, it still got on her.

The spitter was uncooperative and unreasonable, according to the police report.

Man issued citation for bothering WESCOM

A man on the CTA platform at 711 Desplaines Avenue was issued a citation for disorderly conduct on May 20 shortly after 3 a.m. Police were dispatched to the location to meet the complainant, who was upset because trains were not running, and he said he was being asked to exit the inbound train and pay again before entering the outbound train.

When the reporting officer arrived, however, nobody on the platform flagged him down, and he didn’t know who had placed the call.

Back in his vehicle, the officer was told that the complainant had just called once more, this time leaving his description with WESCOM. But back on the platform, after talking to several people, the officer still could not identify the caller and again was not flagged down.

Once more, WESCOM said the man was on the phone, now being abusive to WESCOM call takers. This time, the officer located the caller, who said he wasn’t sure he should flag down the officer on the platform. The man said he didn’t have an emergency but wanted to get the attention of the CTA supervisor.

WESCOM said the man had called seven to eight times, was verbally abusive, and never reported an actual emergency. WESCOM wished to pursue charges because, they said, the man’s calls were disruptive to their service as a 9-1-1 emergency dispatch center and the false alarms/complaints resulted in the response of Forest Park Police Department units.

More catalytic converters stolen

At least two more catalytic converters were stolen, adding to the numbers from last week’s rash of cases.

  • One was taken from a car on the 800 block of Thomas Avenue sometime between May 11 and 15 while parked at the owner’s residence. It was reported to police on May 18.
  • Another was stolen from a Ford bus in a lot on the 7700 block of Roosevelt Road. The driver discovered it missing on May 18 at 8:30 p.m. when he was supposed to start his shift.

Person hides rock under box in middle of street

A person, unidentifiable by race or gender, was caught on video placing a box with a large rock/small boulder inside in the middle of the street, then running back inside an address on the 7400 block of Franklin Street. A business owner saw the box on May 18 at 2:22 p.m. Thinking it might be someone’s lost property, he examined it and discovered the rock. Feeling it might have been intentionally placed there, he moved it to the parkway and checked his surveillance cameras. The perpetrator could be seen but not identified. The video was given to police.

Woman foiled trying to use counterfeit money

A woman tried to pay with a counterfeit $100 bill at Walgreens, 7200 Roosevelt Rd., on May 18 at 3:59 p.m. The clerk, who identified the money as fake, told the customer that the store would keep the money, at which point the customer became irate. She demanded it back, saying it was her friend’s money. She was gone by the time police arrived. The clerk told police the store has had an ongoing issue with counterfeit money and provided the officer with the $100 bill from that day’s encounter, plus $500 in counterfeit $20 bills and an additional $100 bill from the store’s safe.

Car burglarized

A car was burglarized sometime between 4 a.m. on May 19 and 11 p.m. on May 20 on the 7700 block of Van Buren Street. The owner, whose vehicle was parked at the back of his residence, said the glove compartment, center console and armrest areas had been ransacked. It is possible, he said, that he forgot to lock the car. He thought a checkbook might be missing. 

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, May 18-21, 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 Maria Maxham