Late on July 10, a man waved down police from the Portillo’s parking lot, where he said he saw a woman stumble out of her car. Police followed the woman’s car as it exited the parking lot without a turn signal. The car pulled into Woodlawn Cemetery, and police pulled the car over. Police reported that the driver smelled of alcohol and there was vomit on the outside of the car door. The woman told police she was drinking beer at the cemetery on the one-year anniversary of her nephew’s death. The woman showed multiple signs of intoxication during field sobriety tests. During the tests, police asked the passenger of the car multiple times to exit the vehicle, and he refused. After police threatened to taze him, police removed him from the car and handcuffed him. He was charged with three counts of resisting an officer. The woman was placed into custody and charged with failing to signal, driving under the influence of alcohol and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
Criminal damage to property
Just before 2 a.m. on July 11, a man held in custody — because he resisted police as a passenger in a car where the driver was charged for a DUI hours earlier — in one of the Forest Park Police Department cells clogged the sink drain “with toilet paper and other unknown items,” according to the police report. The man flooded his cell and caused water damage in other areas on the police department, including the women’s locker room wall, plus the ceiling and a wall in the basement hallway. Police reported the damage to Sal Stella, head of the public works department, who estimated the cost of damage to be $1,285. The man was charged with criminal damage to government supported property and given a court date before being released, due to the non-discretionary pretrial release conditions.
Battery
Police were dispatched to Circle and Harlem the afternoon of July 10, where a man reported that, in a road rage incident, another driver hit him in the face. The man told police that he was in traffic at the intersection, when the driver in front of him exited his car, approached his window, and punched him, causing him to hit the car in front of him. No one was charged at the time of the police report.
Aggravated unlawful use of weapon
While on patrol July 8, police pulled over a car on Harlem and I-290 for having darkly tinted windows, in violation of the Illinois Vehicle Code. The registered owner had a suspended driver’s license. Police reported the driver was wearing a tactical bulletproof vest with an attached pistol and rifle magazine. The driver said he had a gun on his hip holster, but a police check revealed the man to have an active Firearm Owners Identification card and no concealed carry license. Police placed the driver in custody and, at the police department, the man said he was driving to a 10-1 on the West Side and on the clock for work. Police contacted the 12th district Chicago Police Department, the area the man claimed he was going, and they said there were no major incidents in that area. The man was charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, having a suspended driver’s license, violating Illinois vehicle code, and operating an uninsured car.
Cannabis possession
After several complaints from locals living in the area, police are conducting increased stop sign enforcement near Harrison and Beloit. While patrolling July 7, police saw a car run through a stop sign and pulled it over. Police reported the smell of cannabis in the car and saw a lit blunt in the center console. When police asked if there was cannabis in the car, the driver handed them a bag from the center console. The man was cited with disregarding a stop sign and unlawful possession of cannabis in a car.
These items were obtained from Forest Park Police Department reports dated July 6 through July 12 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.