A man was robbed and beaten at the Forest Park Blue Line CTA terminal’s south parking lot, 711 Desplaines Ave. – and the victim claimed the attackers were his girlfriend’s relatives.
On June 1 at around 1:23 a.m., police got a call about a fight at the parking lot. The officers found the victim lying in the middle of the parking lot, injured.
The victim said he was in the Chicago area to attend his son’s graduation. A few hours earlier, he went to stay with his girlfriend on Chicago’s South Side, near the Hyde Park/Washington Park border. The victim claimed his girlfriend didn’t open the door for an hour, and when she did, he thought she was intoxicated. The couple fought, and the victim decided to go to his aunt’s house in Forest Park.
The victim said that, when he left the terminal and went to the parking lot, a grey or blue SUV pulled up. Two men got out and beat him with a golf club and a baseball bat. The victim said he recognized them as his girlfriend’s son and his girlfriend’s brother.
The victim said they took his suitcases, phone and wallet.
He was taken to the Rush Oak Park hospital for treatment.
Catalytic converter thefts
A group of thieves driving a sedan with a stolen license plate stole a catalytic converter – and were nearly caught after the victim’s ex-husband saw the theft as it was happening.
The witness said his ex-wife’s car, a silver 2004 Chevrolet Cavalier, was parked near his house on the 1400 block of Circle Avenue. On the night of May 31, at around 2:28 a.m., he spotted four men near the car, and he thought they looked like they either just finished removing the catalytic converter or were trying to remove it. The four men were later seen getting into a black 2007 Infiniti Qa56 sedan and driving east on 15th Street.
Police officers confirmed that the converter was removed from the Infiniti, and that none of the other cars on the block were damaged.
The officers canvassed the area for the suspects, and they spotted a car matching the witness’ description parked in front of One Time Auto Finance used car dealership, 7304 Roosevelt Road, and two men stood outside. When one of the men spotted the officer, he got into the sedan and drove east on Roosevelt Road, then went north on Harlem Avenue before heading east on the Eisenhower Expressway.
The check of the sedan’s license plate revealed that it was stolen. Another officer had encountered the car with a stolen plate a month earlier and asked the driver to report the plate stolen, but he never followed through.
The check of the One Time auto lot showed that none of the cars had their converters stolen.
Illegal fireworks
American Legion Post 0414 Hall, 500 Circle Ave., was cited for disorderly conduct after a group that rented the building for a baby shower allowed kids to launch fireworks.
The police received calls about “numerous” people lighting fireworks in the middle of Circle Avenue on the evening on June 3. When the officers arrived at around 7:53 p.m., they stopped the kids shooting fireworks and adults watching. When the police told the adults that they shouldn’t be allowing it to happen, the adults initially said they understood. But things soon escalated, with some adults insulting the officers and one man saying he would fight the police.
Police officers gave the citation to the only American Legion employee on duty. She claimed that she didn’t know anything about the incident.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, May 30 – June 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.
Compiled by Igor Studenkov
