LaGrange man charged with vehicle break-ins
Nikola Cevizovic, 21, of LaGrange, remained in Cook County Jail on Tuesday after being charged with three counts of burglary in Brookfield on Jan. 1.
Police were called to the 8400 block of Greenview Avenue about 9 a.m. by a resident who reported seeing a man enter three different vehicles and remove a baseball bat from one of them.
The witness said the suspect left the area in a gray Mercedes with New York plates, which police located at Rosemear and Greenview avenues. Police recovered a baseball bat from the vehicle and spoke with Cevizovic, who allegedly admitted taking it from another vehicle on Greenview Avenue.
The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved three felony burglary charges against Cevizovic, who also reportedly flooded his jail cell in Brookfield by plugging the toilet and flushing it repeatedly. He was also charged with criminal damage to property.
Vehicle burglary
A 25-year-old Lyons man, who told police he had fallen on hard times and was in need of money, was charged with burglary after allegedly breaking into a van parked in the 4200 block of Forest Avenue, Brookfield, on Dec. 25, 2013 about 4:20 p.m.
A witness told police he saw Valentin Almeida rifling through a 2008 Chrysler van. The witness ran outside to confront the man, who ran away through backyards. Another neighbor joined in the chase and was able to detain Almeida until police arrived.
He is being held at Cook County Jail awaiting a Jan. 8 court date with his bond set at $20,000.
Chief makes traffic stop
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel re-lived his days as a patrolman recently, when he pursued and stopped a semi-tractor trailer truck driver who fled the scene after allegedly knocking down a street light and traffic light while turning onto Archer Avenue from First Avenue in Summit.
Weitzel was on his way home from work on Dec. 30 about 4 p.m. when he reported seeing a semi exit I-55 onto First Avenue and head south toward Archer Avenue.
Driving directly behind the truck in his unmarked squad car, Weitzel said the truck hit the poles while making a right turn, causing several cars to evade both the truck and the falling poles.
At first the truck slowed down but then sped up and continued south on Archer Avenue. Weitzel put on the squad’s lights and siren, gave chase and radioed Riverside police to notify Summit police of the situation.
Weitzel was able to curb the truck in the 7600 block of 63rd Street and detained the truck driver until Summit police arrived to take over the investigation.
Overdose death
On Jan. 2, a 19-year-old Brookfield man died of an apparent heroin overdose in the bedroom of the apartment his family rents in the 4500 block of Elm Avenue.
The man’s mother called police and paramedics about 9:20 a.m. on Jan. 2 and directed emergency personnel to a bedroom where the man sat in a desk chair with his arms stretched out and hands clenched in fists. Police reported observing two syringes on the desk in front of the man, who was dead, with needle marks on the man’s left arm.
According to the man’s mother, he had been a heroin user for a few years. Brookfield paramedics had responded to that same address for an overdose by the same man on Dec. 9, 2013.
Business burglarized
Brookfield police are investigating the burglary of an Ogden Avenue business, targeted twice in the same day on Dec. 24, 2013.
Police were first called to the State Farm Insurance agency at 9101 Ogden Ave. about 2:40 p.m. after someone phoned police to report that the business’ rear door was open. When police arrived, the officer observed that the exterior door appeared to have been pried open, but two interior doors remained secure. The officer remained on the scene until the owner arrived to inspect the business.
About 9:20 p.m., police responded to a burglar alarm at the business and found the rear door and an interior door open. Two desks at the front of the business appeared to have been ransacked and about $500 had been taken from a desk drawer.
DUI
On Jan. 5 about 2:45 p.m., a 58-year-old Hines man was charged with drunken driving, fleeing/eluding police and reckless driving and was cited for several traffic offenses after he reportedly drove his 1999 Dodge SUV into several snow banks on First Avenue and then performed a 180-turn in the middle of the eastbound lanes of traffic on Cermak Road before trying to elude police while fleeing northbound on First Avenue from Cermak Road, where it skidded into the snow-covered median and eventually got stuck in the snow.
According to North Riverside police, the driver’s blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit of .08. He has a Feb. 24 court date.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Dec. 24, 2013 to Jan. 5, 2014, 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
