Eighteen vehicles were given citations for reckless driving during several rowdy funeral procession on July 11 at the Harlem Avenue and Jackson Boulevard intersection. Police officers observed and recorded license plates of vehicles that were trying to block traffic by cutting off other drivers at intersections, taking up multiple lanes, and driving with occupants hanging out of open windows, doors, roofs and sun-roofs. According to the police report, these actions “were without regard to the public, their passengers or themselves, everyone in danger of being seriously injured.”
Fight at bar; service goat present
Police rushed to Doc Ryan’s, 7432 Madison St., on July 10 at 12:23 a.m., for a battery that had just occurred. A fight had broken out and an injured man was punched in the face, then fell and hit his head on the curb.
Reporting officers arrived to find the victim lying on the ground, semi-conscious, and being cradled by his son. The officer observed a large laceration on the victim’s lip and another on the back of his head. Both wounds were bleeding profusely.
Officers on the scene tried to piece together what had happened, but “all witnesses appeared to be intoxicated,” according to the police report.
Officers figured out that four or five subjects in their twenties or thirties began to argue with the victim. The argument escalated and became physical. Descriptions of the offenders were provided, including that one of the men was accompanied by a goat, which was wearing a service animal vest.
Woman upset with social distancing smashes window
A window at Subway, 7328 Madison St., was broken on June 10 at 9:13 a.m. when a customer, unhappy with the restaurant being roped off to comply with social distancing requirements, knocked over the barricade and some chairs and began yelling at store employees. She then left the store, but once outside grabbed a sign and threw it into the front window causing it to break. Subway did not wish to sign a complaint against the woman but will call the police if she returns to the shop.
Sleeping man on train robbed
A man fell asleep on the Blue Line train and awoke at the Forest Park stop to find his bicycle and backpack stolen on July 9. His backpack contained $800, money he said was from his government stimulus check.
Salon robbed by suspect indicating he has weapon
Seva, a salon at 7505 Roosevelt Rd., was robbed on July 7 at 11:10 a.m. An employee working there at the time said she was in the back of the salon when she heard a male voice talking to a customer about pricing. She heard the register open and ran to the front of the store, where she saw a man taking cash from the register.
She demanded he return the money, and he placed his hand at his waistband as if to indicate he was carrying a weapon. Then he ran outside and fled the scene on a Divvy bicycle, last seen heading toward Taco Bell across the street.
Car window smashed
The rear window of a vehicle on the 1000 block of Thomas Avenue was smashed with a piece of concrete some time between July 5 and 6. The owner of the car said she had “Black Lives Matter” written in sharpie on the back window and believes that was the motivation for the crime.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 6-11, 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
