A 20-year-old Oak Park man speeding on Madison Street last week was ticketed for unlawfully carrying cannabis in his car.
According to police, officers noticed the car traveling 45 miles per hour in a 25-mph zone, and smelled weed wafting from the car. After they pulled the car over, they said the smell of cannabis was even stronger.
When they asked the driver about the smell, he reached into his jacket pocket and made “furtive movements” toward the passenger in the car.
Both men were asked to step out of the car. After a search, police found two zip-lock bags of what was believed to be cannabis. One was stashed in the passenger side door and another in the center console. The cannabis was immediately accessible to the passenger, and it was not in an odor-proof, child-proof container, as the law requires.
One man was ticketed for possession of fewer than 10 grams of cannabis. A court date was set for March.
In an unrelated case, Forest Park police pulled a speeding Camry over last week and arrested a Berwyn man for possessing fewer than 10 grams of cannabis.
When they approached the car, they reported they could smell marijuana coming from it. After a search, police found a partially smoked blunt on the center console, and a zip-lock bag and green tube of what they believed was cannabis from the driver’s backpack.
The cannabis, they said, was immediately accessible to the passenger and it was not in an odor-proof, child-proof container.
A later test found that the man was carrying about 7.6 grams of the drug.
Attempt to rob counseling center
A 62-year-old Forest Park man was arrested last week after police caught him stealing from Calm Mind Counseling on Roosevelt Road while the center was closed.
Police said they witnessed a man walking with his head down, moving quickly along the sidewalk toward the business about 8:29 p.m. last Friday.
Officers made a U-turn and watched the man try to get into the counseling center through the middle window. He had both hands on the window and was pushing up the glass multiple times.
They approached him as he walked away with his hands in his pockets.
Forest Park officers arrested him, and after he was read his rights, he said he was “trying to get his money” and “trying to count his money.” On further investigation, police also found footprints around the building in multiple spots.
At the station, the man told an officer that he wanted to touch the building because he has been around since the building was first constructed. He then said he did not know why he wanted to touch the building, and it was instinct.
He was charged with burglary.
Ticketed over parking dispute
A Forest Park man was ticketed after video showed him annoying and threatening a neighbor over a longtime parking dispute.
Police said two men at the building on South Harlem Avenue said they’ve had a disagreement over parking in the rear of the building. Around 1:40 a.m. Saturday, one of the men, who was sleeping, awoke to his downstairs neighbor banging on the ceiling, yelling, and playing loud music in his apartment. The neighbor then came to the man’s door, banged on it and screamed and yelled at him, threatening violence if the cars weren’t moved. The interaction was captured on video.
Officers also said they witnessed the loud music and the man banging on the ceiling. They reported he also appeared intoxicated.
The man explained he had contacted the building’s management to no avail, and while he denied threatening anyone, he admitted he was acting belligerently and playing music loudly because of the dispute.
He was issued two local ordinance citations for assault and excessive noise. A hearing was set for March.
Arrested for driving without a license
A Mexican citizen who lives in Chicago was arrested last week on the 900 block of South Harlem Avenue after police pulled him over and discovered the car he was driving had a suspended registration and that he did not have a valid driver’s license.
According to police, the man said he had been in the United States for the past two years and offered a copy of his Mexican voter registration card and valid proof of insurance. The passenger in the car also did not have a driver’s license.
Police were not able to verify the man’s identity with just the voter registration card so he was taken into custody.
He was ticketed for driving without a valid license and with suspended registration.
These items were obtained from the Forest Park Police Department reports, dated Jan. 16-21, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large, and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.