Forest Park police and fire responded to 644 Marengo Ave. on July 16 around 3 a.m. for a structure fire. Everyone was evacuated from the apartment building, and River Forest, Oak Park and North Riverside departments helped put out the fire. The person who called police said he saw smoke coming into his unit and heard fireworks, and other residents said the same. The resident of the unit was called to the scene and told police that he left his apartment the previous evening to go to the Staybridge Suites Chicago-Oakbrook Terrace with a woman. The man said his child’s mother left the apartment around the same time with their son, taking him to a relative’s home before going to work. He also said there were fireworks against the wall in the kitchen, and that a wax warmer was left on. The woman and the landlord were unable to be reached at the time of the police report. Police said no tenants were injured.
Death investigations
On July 11, police reported to a Dunlop Avenue residence, where a caregiver said she arrived at the apartment and found the woman whom she was caring for in the bathroom against the door. The Forest Park Fire Department removed the bathroom door to find the woman deceased, according to the police report. Police reported that there was an oxygen machine on the unit’s back porch with a long tube running to the woman. They do not suspect foul play.
On July 14, police responded to a Harlem Avenue residence for a welfare check after a woman called to say she hadn’t heard from her brother in the past two days. She told police that he usually calls back within a few hours but hasn’t. According to the police report, the sister said her brother had Parkinson’s disease and a leaky heart valve after triple bypass surgery a few years ago. Forest Park Paramedics helped open the first-floor apartment window, and police found the man lying on the bedroom floor deceased. They didn’t observe any signs of foul play.
Suspicious circumstances
A man living in a Troost Avenue residence came to the police station on July 12 to turn in shotgun ammunition that he found while mowing the grass. He told police that he thought it came from the house next door, whose residents he said often throw things in his yard. According to the police report, officers have had several recent dispatches to the adjacent house for criminal damage and loud music.
DUI
Police were dispatched to the intersection of Roosevelt Road and Thomas Avenue around 11 p.m. on July 12 for a car crash with the offending vehicle fleeing the scene. Police pulled over the car at Garfield Street and East Avenue in Oak Park. The victim, who called in the crash, told police that he was driving on Roosevelt Road when the car hit him from behind. The driver of the offending car told police that he was mourning his uncle’s death, hit the car and drove away. He said he wasn’t intoxicated and refused to complete any standardized field sobriety tests. Police report that the man smelled of alcohol and had slurred speech. The man later said he had two shots with his relatives to honor his uncle before getting behind the wheel. He also complied with providing a breath sample, which said he had a blood alcohol content of .202, over twice the legal limit of .08. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, having a BAC over .08, leaving the scene of a property damage accident, and possession of cannabis in the car outside an approved container.
Burglary
On July 15, police were dispatched to the intersection of Harrison Street and Marengo Avenue just after 8 a.m. A witness told them he saw a dark gray Nissan Altima with tinted windows pull up to work vans and three men wearing ski masks take tools from the vans. Police reported that both work vans had broken windows and a combined estimated loss of $3,650 worth of tools. No one has been charged.
Property damage
Police responded to the 800 block of Des Plaines Avenue on July 19 after midnight when a car crashed into a tree on the parkway and the driver fled the area. According to the police report, officers found a man walking on Des Plaines and, when they pulled up to him, he started jogging but stopped with officers’ verbal commands. The man told police that he thought people were chasing and trying to harm him when he lost control of his car. He also said he ingested cocaine around 8 p.m. According to police, he appeared paranoid. The man was taken to Rush Oak Park Hospital and given citations for failing to reduce speed, improper lane usage and leaving the scene of a property damage accident.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated July 11 through July 20 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.