Forest Park police impounded a 2021 Kia K5 sedan and have cast suspicion on the story given to them over the phone by someone purporting to be the vehicle’s owner following a high-speed chase involving the vehicle from Forest Park into Berwyn on Aug. 5 at about 11:15 p.m.

An officer on patrol reported seeing the Kia traveling at a high rate of speed southbound on Harlem Avenue at I-290 and gave pursuit. The Kia reportedly entered the right-turn lane at Roosevelt Road and accelerated quickly to get around other vehicles to continue southbound.

A short distance south of Cermak Road, the Kia entered the Cermak Road parking lot and stopped. The officer exited his squad car to approach the vehicle, but the Kia accelerated again eastbound through the parking lot and eluded police.

A short while later, someone claiming to be the owner of the Kia called 911 to report his vehicle had been hijacked just prior to the police pursuit. The person claimed he was carjacked at gunpoint and that his assailant made him stay in the vehicle while the offender “joyrode around.” The police officer involved in the chase reported seeing just one person inside the vehicle when it briefly stopped in the Cermak Plaza parking lot.

After the offender eluded police, the alleged victim said the offender got out of the vehicle in Berwyn and ran away. The alleged victim apparently gave police his name, but otherwise was not very cooperative. Police traced alleged victim to an address in Berwyn not too far from where the chase ended. They located the vehicle there and had it towed pending further investigation.

Car stolen from gas station

A 29-year-old Forest Park man called police on Aug. 8 at about 7:50 p.m. to report that about 10 to 15 minutes earlier someone had stolen his black 2018 Infiniti while it was parked at a gas pump outside 7-Eleven, 7749 Roosevelt Road.

The victim told police he was in possession of the key and was sure the ignition was off, so he was unsure how it could have been stolen. Asked about the delay in calling police, the victim said his cellphone died and so he went home first.

Vehicle parts stolen

  • A resident of the 1200 block of Circle Avenue went to police on Aug. 11 to report that during the overnight hours someone had removed the entire rear passenger side window from his 1999 Chrysler Town and Country minivan, which was parked in Municipal Lot 15 at Circle and Roosevelt.

The victim told police he did not believe the window had been broken out because there was no shattered glass near or in the vehicle.

  • A resident of the 300 block of Circle Avenue contacted police on the morning of Aug. 12 to report that sometime after 1:30 p.m. the previous day someone sawed off the catalytic converter from his 2006 Honda CR-V, which was parked in an assigned spot overnight.

DUI crash

Forest Park police charged a 25-year-old Bellwood woman with drunken driving after she allegedly crashed his 2019 Ford sedan into a 2010 Ford F-150 pickup truck parked in the 400 block of Circle Avenue on Aug. 8 at about 11:35 p.m.

The owner of the pickup truck, who heard the crash, called police after hearing the driver of the sedan’s engine revving, as if trying to drive away. The alleged offender reportedly failed field sobriety tests and police reported finding a broken beer bottle in the center console of the sedan.

A breath test reportedly revealed the woman’s blood-alcohol content to be .247, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08. In addition to driving under influence, the woman was cited for illegally transporting open alcohol.

Vehicle break-ins

Forest Park residents reported a spate of vehicle break-ins between Aug. 5 and Aug. 12, all but one of them involving unlocked vehicles.

On Aug. 5, three overnight burglaries to vehicles occurred, one each in the 800 block of Dunlop, 800 block of Lathrop and the 1000 block of Thomas.

On the night of Aug. 6 someone living in the 7200 block of Harvard Street reported that someone entered his unlocked vehicle and removed a Movado watch worth $3,800, credit cards and an envelope containing $1,100 in cash.

Other overnight car burglaries were reported Aug. 9 in the 1100 block of Hannah; on Aug. 10 in the 1000 block of Marengo and 200 block of Circle; on Aug. 11 in the 7700 block of Dixon and the 1100 block of Lathrop; and on Aug. 12 in the 7500 block of Roosevelt.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Aug. 5-12, 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 Bob Uphues