Police responded to a Marengo Avenue residence on July 28 for a welfare check after a woman’s son requested that police do so because of a “hoarding situation,” according to the police report. Officers said they’ve previously been called to the house for welfare checks and for complaints about barking dogs. Police said they met two sons and two daughters of the home’s resident at the house, who said they previously found two dead dogs inside the home. In a video of the inside the home that the family showed to police, officers reported seeing four dogs and over 10 cats, plus floors covered in dirt, feces and boxes. Police reported a smell of feces and urine from the home’s back door, where there were also two trash bags with the remains of the two dogs.
When police made contact with the woman, she said two cats had died before police corrected her. She then said the two dogs died last night, though police report that the dogs’ decomposition suggests they’d died before then. The woman first refused medical service but then agreed to go to Loyola University Medical Center. Police contacted Forest Park Social Worker Evelyn Simmons, who contacted the social worker at Loyola to advise them of the situation.
Police also contacted Building Department Director Steve Glinke, who deemed the residence uninhabitable and said he’d speak to those involved to develop a plan of action, according to police. Police suggested that the woman’s children contact Cook County Animal Control and the Oak Park Animal Care League to find a home for the woman’s animals.
Domestic battery
On July 28, the Forest Park Public Library called police because of a woman there who appeared disheveled and confused and had face injuries. The woman told police that she’d been in a fight with her child’s father earlier that day after telling him she wanted to move back to Nebraska to see her son who is in foster care there. She said the man hit her in the face and head, so she went to 711 Des Plaines Ave. before someone directed her to the library. She was transferred to Rush Oak Park Hospital and said she didn’t want to pursue charges against the man. Police gave her a Domestic Violence Victims Rights pamphlet.
Aggravated assault
Police responded to 420 Des Plaines Ave. on July 29 after a man called to say another man threatened him with a knife. When police arrived, he told them he was waiting for the bus at Des Plaines and Madison around noon when a man approached and asked him for the time. He ignored him because the man seemed agitated, then the man brandished a pocket knife and came toward him. The offender ran west down Monroe Street when the man got out his phone to call police, who canvassed the area with negative results.
Fight
On July 31, police were called to the Walgreens at 7200 Roosevelt Rd. for four men fighting in the parking lot. Three ran away from the nearby Shell gas station when police arrived. The man who stayed was handcuffed as a woman with a bloody nose came up and started yelling at him. She wouldn’t answer police questions and walked away. The man told police that he was hanging out with his two friends when a woman came up to them, started yelling, and threatened to pepper spray them. He told police that his friends tried to take the pepper spray from the woman, resulting in a cut on her nose, before an unknown man came up and yelled at the group for fighting with her. The man hit one of them, resulting in a physical altercation. The handcuffed man told police that he didn’t wish to press charges against the man who hit him.
Assault
On Aug. 1, police responded to J & J Fish & Chicken on Harlem Avenue after a woman was threatening to spray patrons with pepper spray. Police found the woman sitting in her car in the parking lot and ordered her to step out, which she did. The woman said she ordered food from the business and wanted to return it for a refund, but the staff was disrespectful and threw her money back at her. She said she felt threatened because the staff was all men. An employee told police that the woman was given a full refund, but started arguing before leaving the shop, returning with pepper spray, then threatening to spray him and have someone come shoot up the restaurant. The woman was charged with assault.
Disorderly conduct
On Aug. 2, police responded to the Forest Park CTA Blue Line station for a report of a man brandishing a gun at a patron. Police saw a man matching the offender’s description walking toward the Van Buren parking lot and ordered him to get on the ground. He complied, and police found a BB pellet gun on him. He told them he was moving the BB gun from his waist to his backpack and didn’t mean to point it at anyone. The victim said he was waiting for the train when the man approached him and asked if he wanted to smoke. When the victim told the man to get out of his face, he went behind a trash can and the victim heard a click and thought he saw a gun. Police discovered the man to have nine arrest warrants, which they charged him with, along with obstructing identification and disorderly conduct.
Accident
Police were dispatched to Harlem and Franklin on Aug. 3 before 9 a.m. for an accident with injuries. Police reported that a car was against Pretty Little Things and that the driver inside was confused and disoriented. Police said there weren’t any signs of alcohol or drug use, and the woman was taken to Rush Oak Park Hospital. Police notified the business owners and public works department.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated July 28 through August 3 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.
