Police were dispatched to Woodlawn Cemetery the afternoon of June 18. Multiple witnesses present for a funeral service reported that an unknown woman brought bear mace and, along with three other women, battered and maced an attendee before fleeing in two vehicles. The victim told police that she was previously friends with the offender who sprayed her before they had a falling out. She said the other women were the offender’s mother and sisters. The victim said she’d sign complaints against the women once police located them.
Damage to property
Police responded to Papa Johns on Madison Street the morning of June 25 after a passerby reported that the front window of the business was broken. The store manager told police that nothing appeared to be taken and provided video surveillance, which showed a man walking into the business the previous afternoon and returning around 1:30 a.m. when he hit the front glass window multiple times with an object. The store manager quoted the damage at $900. While on a premise check at the CTA Blue Line station June 25, police saw a man matching the offender’s description and detained him. The offender told police he was at Papa Johns the day before asking for help and nobody helped him, so he broke the window with a metal object he found in a nearby alley. He was charged with criminal damage to property.
Police were dispatched to Follicle Hair Salon in the 100 block of Des Plaines on June 21 after the business owner found the front window shattered and a brick on the window ledge. The business owner reported that nothing seemed to be missing and said she’d sign complaints if the offender is located.
Around 11 p.m. on June 20, police were dispatched to the 400 block of Beloit Avenue after someone called to report a screaming man who broke a door. At the residence, a woman told police she heard knocking at her unit door and a man yelling before breaking down the door. A neighbor saw the man through her peep hole. Police saw a man matching the description of the offender running down Beloit and detained him. He was charged with criminal damage to property and resisting police.
On June 17, police responded to a parish in the 800 block of Marengo Avenue, where staff showed them a window at the rear entrance that was shattered. Staff said they would contact police if surveillance footage showed possible suspects.
Possession of meth
While on patrol June 23, police pulled over a car in the 200 block of Des Plaines with an obstructed license plate. Police reported loose cannabis in the car’s center console and asked the driver and passenger to exit the vehicle. The passenger appeared to try and conceal something before getting out of the car. Police found a mini bottle of Bacardi, a clear glass jar with off-white, crystal-like substance in it that police suspected to be meth, a backpack with a plastic bag of several tablets of Xanax and other pills, and pipes commonly used to ingest narcotics. The driver and passenger were placed in custody, and both were charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and controlled substances. The driver was charged with having an expired vehicle registration, and the passenger was charged with possession of meth and delivery of controlled substance.
Fire
Before 11 p.m. on June 26, police responded to a structure fire in the 1500 block of Marengo Avenue. Police reported that there were no residents inside, but there was heavy smoke and flames throughout the house. The Forest Park Fire Department successfully extinguished the fire.
The afternoon of June 22, police responded to the 7400 block of Randolph for a fire alarm after a man called to report the smell of smoke in the hallway of his apartment complex. When no one answered the door of the apartment where the fire alarm sounded, the Forest Park Fire Department forced entry, found a small fire on the kitchen stove and extinguished it. Police informed the property manager of the fire.
Hit and run
The morning of June 19, police were dispatched to Crystal Car Wash on Harlem for a hit and run. An Elgin Avenue resident told police he saw a car hit his garbage cans and garage before driving off. Police saw surveillance footage from the car wash of the offending vehicle, but the owner said he couldn’t supply further footage or assistance due to an ongoing civil legal battle with the resident. Police tried to contact the owner of the offending vehicle, who lives in Oak Park, but was unable to. They sent a letter to the owner requesting their presence at the police department on June 30.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated June 17 through June 26 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.