A 35-year-old Oak Park man was charged with battery after trying to get into the USA Beverage Company liquor store, 7200 Madison St., and punching the store owner who “tried to stop him,” police said.
On July 4 at 12:51 a.m., a police patrol spotted the victim sitting in front of the store and bleeding from cuts to his right arm. A witness pointed to two men walking away, heading north on Harlem, and the officer recognized them as individuals who loitered outside the store around 20 minutes earlier.
According to the victim, the Oak Park man tried to get into the building, claiming that he lived upstairs. When the victim told him to get out, the man hit him in the face with a closed fist, sending the victim falling to the ground. The victim said he was bleeding because he was holding a bottle at the time, and the bottle shattered as he fell. A more detailed examination revealed blood all over the victim’s face, arms, hands, and right foot.
Police searched for the Oak Park man and found him carrying a six-inch unsheathed knife. The officers let his companion go, since he appeared to have nothing to do with the incident, but the other man was arrested.
The Oak Park man was charged with one count of battery and one count of the unlawful use of a weapon for carrying the knife.
Retail theft
Three women who shoplifted merchandise from the Forest Park Walgreens at 7200 Roosevelt Rd. were nearly caught when trying to do the same thing at an Oak Park Walgreens at 811 Madison St.
On July 7 at 9:37 p.m., three women reportedly went into the store and took skincare products and two floral pattern bags without paying for them and ran south on Harlem Avenue. The store security cameras were not working, but the police officers put together descriptions based on witness accounts.
Later that day, Oak Park police responded to a report of shoplifting at the Oak Park Walgreens, and the description of the shoplifters matched the descriptions of the ones in Forest Park. The police found some of the stolen Forest Park store merchandise on the scene and returned it.
Theft
A Forest Park woman who changed her phone number discovered that a Bellwood man who got her old phone number was able to use her Amazon account because she didn’t change the linked phone number.
The victim said she changed her phone number in February. The new owner of the phone number used it to access the victim’s Amazon account, use the credit card stored on the account to purchase items and have it delivered to a Bellwood address. The victim said the most recent incident took place on July 8 at some point between 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., with the alleged perpetrator buying $47.86 worth of merchandise.
The victim is trying to remove the number of her Amazon account. She was advised to contact Bellwood police and cancel her account.
Damage to rideshare vehicle
An Uber driver decided not to give a ride to a customer he was supposed to pick up at the Forest Park CTA terminal and, as a result, got a rock thrown at his car.
On July 4 at around 10:52 a.m., the victim went to pick up a customer, stopping at the bus boarding area north of the terminal. He believed that the customer was drunk and decided not to pick him up. As the victim cancelled the trip and drove away, the man threw a “large rock” at the victim’s car, a white 2012 Honda Pilot, hitting the driver’s side door. The rock scratched the paint and left a dent.
The victim said he would sign a complaint against the individual for damaging his car.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 2-7, 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
