Police responded to the 900 block of Harlem Avenue just before 2:30 a.m. on April 4 after several callers reported a car struck a tree and fire hydrant. Police reported that there were two people unresponsive and trapped in the car, which was impacted by the tree on the driver’s side and a fire hydrant in the front. The Forest Park Fire Department and North Riverside paramedics responded and helped extract the driver and passenger, who was breathing and in critical condition at the time of this police report. The driver was pronounced dead at Loyola Hospital.  

Assisting fire 

Police responded to a building on the 600 block of Harlem on April 4 for the smell of gas throughout the building. A person checking on a recently vacated unit for the property owner called police after smelling a strong odor of gas on the first floor. The second-floor tenant told police he was unharmed. Police disconnected the gas line to the stove and deactivated water heaters for both floors, due to significant hoarding conditions presenting high combustion risk. Police notified the village’s building department of the residence’s condition. 

Death investigation 

The morning of April 3, police were dispatched to the CTA Forest Park Blue Line station for two unresponsive people on the train. Police were able to awake one person, but reported the other was cold and stiff. After Narcan and CPR yielded negative results, a doctor pronounced the person deceased via telemetry. Police reported that there was no identifying information on the subject. There was also no sign of trauma to the body and no drugs or paraphernalia on the subject.  

The morning of March 29, police responded to the CTA Forest Park Blue Line station for a woman who was unconscious but breathing. Police gave her Narcan and took her to Rush Oak Park Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The CTA station manager said train passengers alerted her that the woman was unconscious. Police reported that there was no identifying information or drug contraband on the deceased.  

Criminal trespass 

Police were dispatched to Jackson and Des Plaines the afternoon of April 3 for a person with a gun. The manager at McDonald’s told police that a man who had previously received trespass warnings from the business was by the bathrooms. Police found three toy guns on the man, who was charged with criminal trespass.  

Domestic battery 

Police responded to the 600 block of Elgin around 10 p.m. on March 28 after getting a call about seeing and hearing a couple physically fighting. Police found a woman standing outside, waving them down. She told them that she had a verbal altercation with her boyfriend and was concerned about his mental health. Police spoke to the man, who they reported to be intoxicated, but cooperative, in the backyard. He said they had a verbal altercation and he was on his way out so it wouldn’t escalate, when the woman pushed him to the ground. He declined medical attention to a few cuts on his hand and declined to sign complaints. As police went to their patrol car, they heard a child crying from a car. The fighting couple’s two kids were in the car, crying hysterically, according to police, who advised the woman to drive away with the children. No one was charged. 

Police were dispatched to the 7200 block of Randolph around 11 p.m. on April 1 after a woman called to say her boyfriend was acting irate and had a knife. Police reported that the man was sitting on the living room floor, visibly upset, but appeared to not have any weapons. The woman told police the two had gotten into an argument earlier that day. When they got home, the argument escalated, the woman said, and the man grabbed and pushed her. She told police the man grabbed a knife and locked himself in the bathroom before police arrived. The woman didn’t want to sign complaints against the man, who was taken to Rush Oak Park Hospital. 

These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated March 27 through April 5 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.