Around 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 19, police were dispatched to the 700 block of Harlem for a car accident. Police reported that a car was on the center median with severe front windshield damage. A pedestrian standing on the median told police “he was crossing the street and suddenly went through the listed vehicle’s front windshield,” according to the police report. He refused medical assistance. Police reported that the driver had blood shot eyes and saw multiple beers in the backseat. Because the driver didn’t speak English, Oak Park police arrived and helped translate. The driver refused to perform standardized field sobriety tests, but police suspected he was under the influence of alcohol and placed him into custody. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, open alcohol in his vehicle, improper lane usage and failure to reduce speed.
Domestic battery
The evening of Sept. 20, police received a call from a woman saying a man pulled a gun on her in the 1100 block of Dunlop Ave. Police responded to the apartment unit where the call came from, and a man answered the door shirtless and sweating profusely, according to the police report. Police requested the man step out of the apartment with his hands up, and he complied. Police found a semi-automatic handgun in his right front jean pocket, which they recovered, and detained the man in handcuffs. Inside the apartment, police reported that a naked woman said she’d gotten into a physical altercation with the man about her ex-boyfriend. She said the man took out his gun and put her in a chokehold. The man said he was attempting to leave the apartment after the argument became physical. He said the woman punched him, and police reported blood around his nose. The woman told police she had a camera in the living room that recorded footage, which showed the man attempting to leave the apartment and the woman becoming aggressive. The man didn’t wish to sign complaints, was escorted from the residence, and police put his gun in his vehicle’s trunk after verifying he had a valid firearm owner’s ID and concealed carry license. No one was charged
In-state warrant
The afternoon of Sept. 19, police responded to Aldi on Harlem after dispatch reported a possible strong-arm robbery in the grocery store’s parking lot. Police spoke with the caller, who said multiple women came into the store and told her a man outside was demanding money from their purses. The women left before police arrived. Police located a man matching the offender’s given description inside the Taco Bell down the road. They detained him and found him to have an active warrant for his arrest out of Cook County, which he was charged with.
Criminal defacement of property
On Sept. 17, a woman told police that her sister visited her daughter’s grave at Waldheim Cemetery two days prior and saw feces smeared on a banner over her burial site. The woman suspects her daughter’s ex-boyfriend’s family of the defacement, since they were served in a lawsuit last month. The woman said she also spoke with Chicago police after another memorial was vandalized and cemetery staff, who said they thought it was deer feces and don’t have overhead security cameras in the cemetery.
In-state warrant
Police were dispatched to the 7500 block of Madison on Sept. 16 for a suspicious man. A woman told police that the man followed her kids home and was now drinking by a nearby bench. Police confronted the man, who was publicly drinking alcohol and provided his name and date of birth. Police found him to have a warrant for his arrest out of DuPage County and placed him in custody.
Assisting police
On Sept. 16, a police officer was off duty, driving from the police department to his home, when he saw two cars off the roadway at I-290 and St. Charles Road. Police reported that one vehicle was a pickup truck with Florida registration occupied by three men and the other was a Tesla with Illinois registration. Police reported that the Tesla’s airbag was deployed. The officer was driving a semi-marked squad car, turned on his emergency equipment, informed dispatch of the crash, then approached the vehicles to ask if occupants were OK. The driver of the Tesla said she was injured and had back pain, though the officer did not observe any visible injuries or blood. Elmhurst police arrived and took over the scene.
Possession of cannabis
On Sept. 14, police were dispatched to 900 Beloit after a car hit the building. Police reported significant damage to the front of the vehicle and the outer wall of the building. The driver said she was OK and that she got in a verbal altercation in the car with her boyfriend, who owns the car and was driving. But he pulled over in the 800 block of Beloit and got out of the car, so she got in the driver’s seat, accelerated and hit the building. The boyfriend confirmed the story and didn’t wish to press charges. Upon searching the car, police found plastic bags of cannabis in the glove box and a half-smoked blunt in the cup holder. The woman was charged with violating state traffic code, failing to reduce speed, operating an uninsured vehicle, not having a driver’s license, and possession of adult use cannabis outside an approved container.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated Sept. 14 through Sept. 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.