Riverside police believe they may be able to interview the driver of a vehicle that crashed into a tree on Jan. 27 in Riverside, killing two teenage boys. The 17-year-old Lyons resident has been hospitalized since the crash, but Riverside police said Monday that her condition has improved to the point where they may be able to interview her either this week or early next week.
Assistant Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said that the girl’s family has retained an attorney, and that any interview with the girl would be made through her counsel.
“After that we’ll turn the matter over to the state’s attorney to see if they want to pursue it as a criminal matter or not,” Weitzel said.
Riverside police have not received a final accident report from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police, which conducted an accident reconstruction of the fatal crash. Riverside police have interviewed at least three witnesses, including a 17-year-old Lyons boy who walked away from the wreck and two other Lyons residents who were traveling in another car.
According to police, the teenage girl was apparently trying to pass a friend’s car while heading eastbound in the 200 block of East Burlington Street, when she lost control of her 2004 Dodge Neon, struck a curb and then went airborne. The car struck a tree and severed in two. The passengers in the back seat, 18-year-old Stanley Joray, of Berwyn, and 16-year-old Adam Tebockhorst, of Lyons, were killed in the crash.
Meanwhile, no one was hurt in a one-car crash that occurred Jan. 29 at 3:43 p.m. in Riverside, although the 19-year-old driver was ticketed for failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident and damage to village property.
According to the report, Mark A. Dov, of Shorewood, picked up his 17-year-old girlfriend from Riverside-Brookfield High School and then turned south from Ridgewood Road onto First Avenue. While accelerating on the damp pavement, according to the report, Dov lost control of his 2006 Ford Mustang, which slid off the road at a speed between 30 and 40 mph and into a stand of trees, severely damaging the vehicle. Neither Dov nor the passenger was seriously hurt.
Unlawful use of a weapon
A man who was escorted out of a Riverside restaurant for being intoxicated was later found to be not only a convicted felon, but one carrying a loaded handgun.
Riverside police responded to the Chew Chew Cafe, 1 Riverside Road, on Feb. 2 just before 9:30 p.m. for a complaint of an intoxicated man who was threatening restaurant staff and refused to leave. After police escorted the man, later identified as Godfrey W. Dawson, 42, of Aurora, out of the building, a pat down search uncovered in his right front pocket a .22-caliber revolver loaded with six rounds, one of which had been fired.
Dawson was charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, a Class 2 felony, carrying a prison sentence of between three and seven years, if convicted.
Battery
Brookfield police charged Chicago resident Jose G. Arredondo, 21, with battery and reckless conduct after he reportedly punched a woman in the face and threw a bottle at a man’s head during a party at a house in the 4100 block of Deyo Avenue just before 1 a.m. on Feb. 3.
According to the report, Arredondo approached a man and asked which gang “he was representing,” touching off an argument. Arredondo allegedly punched a 26-year-old Romeoville woman, who attempted to intervene, in the face. Arredondo then allegedly grabbed an empty bottle and threw it into a crowd of people, hitting a man in the head.
Burglary
Riverside experienced another residential burglary last week, the fifth reported in the village since Jan. 8. On Jan. 31, an offender(s) gained entry to a home in the 200 block of Waubansee Road between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. by forcing the rear door. They took a 50-inch TV, a Dell laptop computer and a portable DVD player. A dog owned by the resident was also missing from the home.
Police said a blue Cadillac Coupe De Ville was seen leaving Waubansee Road at a high rate of speed before turning southbound onto First Avenue during the time the burglary may have occurred.
Retail theft
A Bridgeview man’s quest to snare a Bears jersey for the impending Super Bowl ended in a misdemeanor theft charge on Feb. 1 in North Riverside.
Michael Kelly, 18, was charged with theft after allegedly removing a Bears jersey valued at $60 from a rack at the Finish Line, 7501 Cermak Road in the North Riverside Park Mall, and place it under his own shirt. After exiting the store, he was apprehended by store security, who called police.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Brookfield, Riverside and North Riverside police departments from Jan. 28 through Feb. 3, 2007 and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. The cases have not been adjudicated.
-Compiled by Bob Uphues