A 24-year-old Chicago man said he was robbed at knifepoint while getting out of his van parked in the east overflow lot of the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, on Aug. 10 at about 6 p.m.
The victim told police he parked his Ford Aerostar van in the lot near Tony’s Finer Foods and began walking northbound when a beige Buick with four men inside pulled up to his vehicle.
One of the men exited the rear door of the Buick and began walking behind the victim. The man then approached the victim from behind, and pressed an object into his back. The man said he had a knife and demanded money from the victim.
When the victim said he didn’t have any money, the offender took the victim’s wallet, which contained $200 in cash, a credit card and driver’s license, and ran to the Buick, which left the lot eastbound on 25th Street.
The offender was described as a black male, about 25 years old and weighing 210 pounds. He was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt with a gold crown on the front and a red Boston Red Sox baseball cap.
Riverside man stabs himself
A 52-year-old man charged with domestic battery by Riverside police was hospitalized after he also reportedly stabbed himself in the side with a kitchen knife after a fight with his girlfriend on Aug. 10 at about 4:45 a.m.
When police arrived at the apartment building in the 2800 block of Harlem Avenue, they were met by a 45-year-old woman with bruises on her arm and torn pants and 52-year-old Richard W. Pascua, who was sitting on the steps with a stab wound in his side.
Police said both had been drinking heavily and that Pascua stabbed himself after an argument that started before 2 a.m. The stab wound was “minor,” said police. The couple’s 3-year-old child was turned over to the woman’s mother.
Can’t out run the police
A 27-year-old Brookfield man reportedly told police he had been drinking, smoking cannabis and taking anxiety medication before leading officers on a chase that went from Brookfield to Berwyn and back to Lyons on Aug. 14 at about 6:20 a.m.
Police were investigating a hit-and-run accident in the 3100 block of Elm Avenue when a witness identified a passing green 1996 Plymouth as the vehicle and driver that caused the crash.
Police tried to stop the vehicle, but the driver, later identified as Christopher F. McLernon Jr., fled. He reportedly disobeyed stop signs and traffic signals as he made his way east through Riverside and into Berwyn before heading back west and surrendering around Ogden Avenue and First Avenue in Lyons.
Inside the vehicle police reported finding an open and partially full 24-ounce beer can, a prescription bottle with cannabis inside and another pill container with pills identified as Valium and Xanax.
Police charged McLernon with aggravated fleeing and eluding, reckless driving, two counts of unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful possession of cannabis, driving under the influence, resisting police and multiple traffic violations, including leaving the scene of an accident.
More cars keyed in Brookfield
Just a couple of weeks after about 10 vehicles in a two-block stretch were found to have been scratched by an unknown object, Brookfield police reported last week that four more vehicles had been damaged in a similar fashion.
All four vehicles were parked on the street in the 3600 block of Madison Avenue and were damaged during the early morning hours of Aug. 11, according to police. Damage was made by scratching quarter panels and hoods of the vehicles, possibly with a key or other sharp object.
Wallet stolen from Brookfield home
A resident of the 3800 block of Raymond Avenue told police that between 5:30 and 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 12, someone entered his home and stole his wallet from the kitchen table.
Neighbors reported that at about 9:30 p.m. that night a large group of teenagers were fighting in the next block and that they scattered when police arrived. At least one teen ran through a yard in the 3800 block of Raymond Avenue.
On Aug. 13 at 7:30 p.m., a neighbor of the victim reported that he found the man’s wallet – credit cards and cash removed – in his backyard.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Aug. 8-14, 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. These cases have not been adjudicated.
-Compiled by Bob Uphues