Police responded to Concordia Cemetery on Oct. 28, when the general manager reported that a mausoleum door was damaged the previous night. He said the same door was pushed inward but not damaged on Oct. 21. Police inspected the inside of the mausoleum and said there was no visible damage to the coffins inside. According to the police report, the general manager told police that he thought someone was seeking shelter at night inside the mausoleum and that staff was planning to secure mausoleum doors with chains to prevent entry and damage. He said the cemetery will also install cameras near the damaged mausoleum.
DUI
While on patrol before 1 a.m. on Oct. 31, police saw a car stopped in the center lane in the 7400 block of Roosevelt Road. The car was on and in park, without hazard lights on. Police reported that the driver had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. The driver told police that she was about to pull over to the side of the road as she stopped to call a friend. The woman agreed to standardized field sobriety tests, which showed clues of her intoxication. She was charged with driving under the influence and stopping in a prohibited place.
At 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 30, police were on patrol when they saw a car turn from 1st Avenue to Madison travelling over 60 miles an hour in a 25-mile-an-hour zone without headlights or taillights on. Police pulled over the driver, who they said smelled of alcohol and had bloodshot eyes. Police saw a half-burnt blunt and full cup of liquor in the center counsel. The driver agreed to a horizontal gaze test and showed clues of impairment, so police took her into custody. She was charged with driving under the influence, illegal transportation of alcohol, two counts of violating the Illinois traffic code, and possession of cannabis in a car outside an approved container.
Fire
Around 7 p.m. on Oct. 30, police responded to a structure fire at a Thomas Avenue home, which they reported was “engulfed in flames.” The only woman who was home told police she woke up smelling smoke and, when she stepped outside her bedroom, saw a fire under her coffee table. Forest Park and Oak Park fire fighters helped extinguish the fire. The woman’s fiancé arrived at the scene and said he’d left shortly after the woman fell asleep to go pick up soup for her mom. He said he recalled an extension cord plugged in in the front living room.
Aggravated battery
While police were on patrol at the CTA Blue Line terminal on Oct. 27, K-9 security waved them down to report that a man who crawled under the turnstile to evade fare hit a security officer. Security identified the offender, and police told him to stop walking away from them multiple times before performing an emergency takedown. The man was placed in custody. Police reviewed security footage, which shows the offender pushing one security guard and engaging in a physical scuffle with another. The man was charged with two counts of aggravated battery to transit employees and one count of resisting an officer.
Before 8 a.m. on Oct. 26, police were dispatched to Montessori Language Academy at 314 Circle Ave. for a suspicious person staring inside the preschool. A staff member told police she saw a man walking around the preschool and looking through windows. She said he’d done the same thing four days prior, but police weren’t able to find the suspect then. Police saw the suspect, who ignored repeated commands to stop walking away. When police reached for the man, he swung his arm and hit an officer’s arm. Backup police arrived, but the man continued resisting arrest. After he was handcuffed and placed in custody, the man spit on a police officer. He was charged with six counts of resisting officers, two counts of aggravated battery to officers, and one count of disorderly conduct.
On Oct. 23, the Chicago Police Department forwarded Forest Park police a report of an incident that happened the day before. Chicago police were dispatched to Rush University Medical Center for a man who’d been stabbed with a screwdriver at the train platform at 701 Harlem Ave. in Forest Park. Chicago police said the victim was approached by an acquaintance and unknown man who demanded money and, when the victim refused, he was stabbed in the chin with the screwdriver before the offenders fled. Forest Park police tried to contact the victim but were unsuccessful at the time of the report.
Fighting
On Oct. 25, police were dispatched to Circle and Brown after a caller reported two women, one with a tire iron, chasing a man. Police stopped the two women walking towards Randolph and Brown, handcuffed them and recovered the tire iron. One woman said they were driving to deliver an Instacart order when a man walked across the street in front of her and they got in a verbal altercation. When the woman pulled over to deliver groceries, the man approached her and punched her in the face multiple times, so she picked up the tire iron to defend herself. Police reported that the woman had a minor abrasion on her cheek.
Police located the man, who said he was crossing the street when the woman’s car nearly hit him. He said the women parked, got out and aggressively approached him, then grabbed a tire iron from the trunk. He said the woman hit him multiple times in the head. Because the women and the man were fighting in public, all three were issued a local ordinance violation.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated Oct. 23 through Nov. 1 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.