Brookfield police found two men who likely died of drug overdoses in separate incidents last week.
On Sept. 14, police were called to the Brookfield Public Library, 3609 Grand Blvd., at about 1:10 p.m. after a library employee called to report an unresponsive man inside a locked stall in a bathroom.
Police reported finding Abraham Perez, 22, of Brookfield seated on a toilet. In his right hand was a small butane lighter. Police Chief Steven Stelter stated that police also found drug paraphernalia inside the stall.
Security cameras showed Perez enter the library about 10:30 a.m. and went directly to the bathroom.
On Sept. 16 about 7:40 a.m., police received a call from a Brookfield woman who reported that her 22-year-old son had been missing since Sept. 14.
About 7 p.m. that night, police reported finding the man, identified as Collin Rajcevich, dead inside a vacant home near his residence. The home was in foreclosure and no one was living at the house.
Police reported finding drug paraphernalia consistent with heroin use, including hypodermic needles, a spoon and a lighter, nearby. Police do not suspect foul play in either man’s death.
Misusing handicapped placard
A 35-year-old Hillside man arrested Saturday at Brookfield Zoo for illegally using a handicapped parking placard, told police he found the sign on a Chicago street and has been using it to score prime parking spots at public places for the past year.
Zoo police detained Shalimar J. Boyd after a zoo employee reported seeing the able-bodied man get into a vehicle displaying a handicapped placard that was parked in a handicapped spot in the zoo’s parking lot.
He reportedly told police that both the car and the placard belonged to him. But police were able to track down the placard’s registered owner, a 73-year-old Chicago woman who said she lost the card in April of 2010.
“It is an unfortunate truth, but the abuse of disabled placards is not unusual in Cook County,” said Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel in a press release.
Head-on crashes result in injuries
North Riverside resident Baldemar Juarez, 42, suffered multiple broken bones requiring surgery after he reportedly slammed his 1991 Toyota into a car waiting to make a left turn at 26th Street and Veterans Drive about 8 p.m. on Sept. 15.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charging Juarez with felony driving under the influence although police as of Monday had not had the opportunity to book him, since he remained hospitalized at Loyola Medical Center.
The victim, a 69-year-old Countryside man, said he was eastbound on 26th Street waiting at a red light in the left turn lane at Veterans Drive when Juarez’s car traveled westbound through the stoplight and hit his car head-on. The victim walked away from the crash uninjured, according to the police report.
Witnesses said Juarez had been driving erratically prior to the crash, cutting off other vehicles and making obscene gestures to other motorists.
Police reported that at the time of the crash, Juarez’s driver’s license had been revoked since 2005.
Riverside police charged 19-year-old Cicero resident Justine Duran with leaving the scene of an accident and other traffic offenses after she reportedly lost control of her 2005 Ford Mustang in the area of Ogden Avenue and Miller Road in Riverside and crashed head-on into a 2005 Chevy Cobalt driven by another woman and then fled the scene just before midnight on Sept. 16.
The victim suffered minor facial injuries and required stitches on the bridge of her nose, according to police. Duran fled east on Ogden Avenue. She turned herself in to police about 1:30 p.m., and reportedly told police she may have fallen asleep at the wheel. She denied using any alcohol or drugs prior to the crash, according to the police report.
She was also cited for failure to give aid after an accident, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, improper lane usage and failure to show proof of insurance.
Cue the ‘Twilight Zone’ music
On Sept. 16 about 7:30 p.m., a Riverside woman called police to say she just saw her 2008 Honda Pilot, which had been parked on the north side of Blythe Park School and had the keys in the ignition, being driven away.
A short time later, the vehicle was found in the driveway of the woman’s home on Blythe Road, with all of her personal belongings intact. How the vehicle got there remains a mystery, said police.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Sept.10-16, 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
