A 34-year-old Forest Park woman was walking her dog in the 400 block of Beloit Avenue when she was allegedly harassed by a passing cab.

The cab driver, Heidi Hassell, told police she was frustrated about how the victim was handling her dog; claiming that the woman had been mistreating the animal and not picking up after it.

At 10:06 p.m. the confrontation allegedly escalated when Hassell left her taxi holding a small wooden club. Hassell then struck the right forearm of the victim, police report.  The victim refused medical attention and showed no external signs of injury but is still pressing charges.

Hassell, 58, claimed that the only reason she used physical force was in response to the victim grabbing her arm.

 Uninvited guest startles resident

• Officers responded to a reported burglary in the 7000 block of West Randolph Street on May 13, at 10:16 a.m.

At the scene police found a Forest Park woman, who said she had heard her backdoor slam against her counter. When she went to investigate the noise she saw a young man between the ages of 16 and 17 standing in her doorway.

The 25-year-old woman made brief eye contact before the suspect ran down the stairway and made his way off the property. Officers found the gate to the building unlocked and slightly ajar.

Nothing was taken from the household and the suspect has yet to be apprehended.

 Residential burglary

• A house in the 500 block of Elgin Avenue was burglarized between May 13 and 15. The woman reported that the unknown suspect pushed open an old door and was able to enter her basement. The offender stole three DVDs: Mulan 2, Snow White and The Incredibles.

The woman believes the offender may be her ex-husband, who she has had problems with before, police report.

 Burglary to car

• At 9:05 pm on May 12 in a parking lot at 7600 Roosevelt Road, four males broke into a Cicero resident’s car stealing $1,025 worth of electronics. A broken passenger side window activated the victim’s key chain alarm. He arrived in time to see the suspects flee with his stereo, CD/DVD player, and 7″ television screen.

• In a parking lot at 1021 Desplaines Ave. an unknown offender removed four wheel covers from a four-door 2004 Toyota Camry. The wheel covers were taken in the middle of the night between May 11 at 8 p.m. and May 12 at 6:30 a.m. They had an estimated value of $500.

• A 1995 Buick LaSabre had its passenger side front and rear hubcaps removed in a parking lot at 1005 Des Plaines Ave. The incident occurred between May 10 and 13.

• On May 15, at 3:51 p.m. in a parking lot in the 7000 block of Roosevelt Road an unknown offender entered a burgundy, four-door Pontiac Grand Am through an unlocked rear door. They removed a camera phone and an iPod adapter card, a total value of $300.

• A Forest Park male had his black, four-door, 1989 Buick Century broken into between 9 p.m. May 14 and 3:50 p.m. May 15. The unknown offender removed a JVC in-dash CD player.

• At 422 Marengo Avenue a Forest Park women, 24, had a rock thrown through her passenger side window on May 12, between 9 p.m. and 11:30 p.m. The unknown offender took a $50 JVC CD player face and $100 in hand tools. 

Theft of purse

• A Berwyn woman was shopping at Ultra Foods and reported her purse stolen from the child seat in her shopping cart. The event transpired on May 6 between 3:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. The unknown offender got away with $175, the woman’s driver’s license, state ID, social security card, credit card, and other miscellaneous papers.

• On May 13 at 6:45 an Elmwood Park woman had a leather wallet stolen from her jacket pocket while shopping in the shoe section in the Wal-Mart at 1300 Desplaines Ave. The unknown suspect was able to spend $1,000 on the victim’s credit card at a Best Buy located in Broadview before the card was reported missing. The victim lost $24, her driver’s license, credit cards, and other miscellaneous papers.

 Shoplifting

• Bruce L. Bettendorf, 31, was arrested after allegedly trying to steal a Duraband portable DVD player from Wal-Mart on May 15 at 3:32 p.m. Wal-Mart agents told the Forest Park Police Department that Bettendorf, a Chicago native, asked for the player to be taken out of a glass case and then walked off with it.

Bettendorf allegedly walked past a Wal-Mart security agent who was picking up a baseball bat a client had left on the floor, and stopped to talk to the agent, saying “Hey, are you playing baseball today?”The agent allegedly replied “no,” then put down the bat and followed Bettendorf, identified himself as a store security agent and detained him.

These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between May 8 and May 15 and represents a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime. The cases have not yet been adjudicated.

“compiled by Povilas Zukauskas