Police were dispatched to the CTA Blue Line station in Forest Park on April 26 after someone sprayed a CTA employee with pepper spray. When police arrived, a man started walking toward them aggressively with his hands in his pockets, according to the police report. After the man ignored multiple demands to stop and remove his hands, an officer tried to grab his arm, and the man sprayed him with pepper spray. The man was also holding a sharp metal object that he swung at another officer. Police conducted an emergency takedown, but as the offender continued to resist, an officer tased him to place him in handcuffs.
The CTA employee told police that, after he asked the man to stop smoking in the train car, the man stubbed out his cigarette, then became angry and pepper sprayed him. In a detention cell at the police department, the man kicked the cell door, causing $2,300 of damage. He was moved into a holding cell, where he yelled, and threw his feces and provided food over his cell. He was charged with two counts of aggravated battery, two counts of aggravated assault, four counts of resisting an officer, criminal defacement of property and criminal damage to government property.
Retail theft
Police were dispatched on April 21 to the 7-Eleven on Harlem and Randolph for retail theft. The store’s clerk told police that a young man and woman stole about $15 worth of food and drinks. Police found two subjects matching the clerk’s description in a nearby alley. They ran their names through their system and found one was reported missing from Glendale Heights and the other from Chicago. Both were returned to their guardians and charged with retail theft and violating curfew.
Aggravated assault
On April 25, police responded to Portillo’s just before midnight for a disturbance. The man who called police told them he was walking across Roosevelt Road when a woman in her car started honking at him. The man told police that they exchanged words, then she got out of her car, got a machete from the trunk, and walked toward him while unsheathing it. She then got back in her car and drove off. The man said he’d sign complaints if the woman was located, and police have her car’s vehicle identification number.
On April 27, police were dispatched to the CTA Blue Line parking lot for reports of a teenager brandishing a knife at CTA employees. When police arrived, three victims identified the young man. Police placed him in handcuffs after the young man resisted arrest multiple times by tensing and twisting his body. CTA employees told police they saw the teenager hop the turnstile. When they approached him telling him he needed to pay, he yelled and waved a knife at them aggressively, threatening to stab them. At the police station, police got in contact with the young man’s mother, who asked him to be transported to the hospital for a mental health evaluation. He was charged with three counts of aggravated assault and two counts of resisting an officer.
Missing persons
Police were dispatched to Riveredge Hospital on April 28 after two patients fled the premises. According to the police report, the program director told police that the two men exited the back door just before 5 p.m. and headed east down Roosevelt Road. The program director said that both are sex offenders at risk of reoffending. A missing person report was filed for both men.
Manufacture of controlled substances
Police responded to 7640 Madison St. at about 10 a.m. on April 28 to address the report of two people drinking alcohol and doing cocaine in a car parked outside Mugsy’s. As police approached, the two got out of the car. Police reported an open bottle of tequila on the passenger’s side floor and a plate with a driver’s license and white, powdery substance on it on the driver’s seat. Police reported that one of the suspects appeared nervous and agitated and was reaching inside his pockets and waistband. Police attempted to place him in custody, but he continued to resist. Police found multiple bags of cannabis in the man’s pockets, a bag of suspect cocaine between his legs, suspect crack cocaine and $760 in cash. He was charged with two counts of resisting an officer, possession of a controlled substance, plus manufacturing or delivering both cannabis and a controlled substance. The other man was charged with possession of a controlled substance.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated April 21 through April 28 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.