Police were dispatched to the Walgreens on Roosevelt Road late on Nov. 13 after a man jumped over the counter to steal cigarettes, later confirmed to be 22 packs totaling over $300. Upon arrival, police saw a man matching the description waving down a Pace bus. Police tried to detain him, but he ran down Fillmore Avenue, down the Harlem-Elgin Ave. alley, and through backyards. Other police departments came to set up a perimeter and found him in a trash can in the 1100 block of Marengo Avenue. He was taken to the police department and charged with retail theft, three in-state warrants, four counts of resisting an officer, criminal damage to property, obstructing identification, possession of controlled substance and drug paraphernalia.  

Snow route violations 

From 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Nov. 10, the morning after the Chicagoland area’s first snowfall, the police department enforced the village’s snow route violation by removing 18 vehicles to Nobs Towing. Public Works Director Sal Stella requested police do so in order for the streets to be plowed after over two inches of snowfall.  

Death investigation 

Around 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 10, police responded to a Forest Park apartment for an unconscious female who wasn’t breathing. The callers told police that they were asleep in their apartment when they heard screams from a nearby unit when the woman’s live-in boyfriend found her unresponsive body. The woman’s neighbor said they were friends and last talked the evening before, when the woman said she felt sweaty and clammy. According to the police report, the woman was slumped forward in front of the couch. Her boyfriend said he went to bed the previous night and found her when he woke up. The fire department confirmed there were no signs of life. There was no indication of illicit drugs or foul play, according to police.  

Around 5 p.m. on Nov. 10, police got a call that there was an unresponsive man at a Forest Park residence. According to police, when they arrived, the fire department’s EMS had already attempted life-saving measures but were unsuccessful. The man who lived in the basement unit with the deceased’s sister told police that, an evening or two before, they heard a thud from a unit above but were unsure if it was his. When they went to check on him, they found him unconscious. Police reported that they found him face up on a bed. They said they found signs of hoarding and multiple empty and opened bottles of alcohol around the apartment. The man’s sister and police spoke with his parents, who said they weren’t close with him and knew he had issues with hoarding. Foul play is not expected. 

Theft of car parts 

On Nov. 12, a woman came to the police department to report that her car’s catalytic converter was stolen. She said she parked her car in a municipal lot on Thomas and Hannah on Nov. 9. But when she returned to her car and started it, she said it sounded like a jet engine. The catalytic converter is estimated to cost $1,200, and the woman said she’d sign a complaint if the offender was located. 

Aggravated assault  

Police were dispatched to the CTA Blue Line station in Forest Park on Nov. 13 for a man with a knife threatening a CTA security officer. Police detained the man and found a sheathed machete in his pants. The CTA K9 security officer told police that he asked the man to move train cars, but he refused and showed the machete handle. Police took the offender to the police station, and he was charged with aggravated assault.  

Assisting fire department 

Police responded to the CTA Blue Line station around 3 a.m. on Nov. 13. There, the fire department’s EMS was helping a man who was badly beaten. According to police, the man’s face had multiple lacerations, bruises, blood and swelling. During questioning, police said the man seemed disoriented and talked quietly, saying he was robbed about five hours prior by two men who took his phone and wallet. A witness told police that the man fell down on the train platform and into the handicap CTA door. The man declined medical care. 

These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated Nov. 10 through Nov. 13 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.