‘Habitual’ traffic violator faces felony charge

A man Riverside police called a “habitual traffic violation offender” was charged with felony driving while revoked and other violations after his 1999 Plymouth struck a left-turning 2002 Lexus at the intersection of First Avenue at 31st Street on March 11 at 8 p.m.

Isaac Sanchez, 35, of Maywood, reportedly was speeding when he struck the Lexus, which was driven by a 38-year-old Elgin woman who was in the company of three children between the ages of 1 and 13. All four were taken to Loyola University Medical center for treatment of what police called minor injuries.

Sanchez’s license was revoked in 2001, but police say he has a history of traffic offenses stretching back to 1994, including two DUI arrests.

Police say they are also investigating the female victim’s later claim that Sanchez grabbed her arm, shook her and told her not to call police just after the crash occurred. 

Right idea, wrong time

Riverside police issued two traffic tickets to a 19-year-old Berwyn man, who rear-ended another vehicle on southbound Harlem Avenue at Addison Road while he was apparently blowing into a device that checks for alcohol on the breath.

The device, known as a Breath Alcohol Interlock Ignition Device (BAIID), is supposed to be used by those convicted of DUI before they start their vehicles. If the device senses alcohol, it locks the ignition so the car won’t start.

“If the device required him to intermittently blow into the unit, he should have curbed his vehicle to safely conduct this process,” said Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel in a press release.

While blowing into the device, the Berwyn man’s car struck a vehicle driven by a 63-year-old Lombard woman, who was taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn after complaining of neck and back pain.

The offending driver was ticketed for disobeying a red light and driving too fast for conditions. 

Shed, vehicles burglarized

A resident of the 9100 block of Sahler Avenue, Brookfield, called police on March 10 to report that someone had broken into a backyard shed and removed several pieces of exercise equipment.

According to police, the shed had been left unlocked and the items had been taken sometime during the previous three days.

A 25-year-old North Riverside man called police on March 14 at 1:45 a.m. after he noticed the glove box center console of his 2010 Nissan, which was parked in the 9000 block of 22nd Place, was open. Some change and a small pocket knife had been removed. He also discovered that someone had rifled through the glove box of a relative’s Ford Crown Victoria, which was parked nearby. Neither vehicle appeared to have been locked, police said. 

Charged with dealing drugs

An 18-year-old Brookfield man, found sleeping behind the wheel of his stopped 2005 Acura TL on First Avenue just south of Cermak Road on March 14, faces felony drug charges in addition to driving while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, according to North Riverside police.

A police officer observed the car stopped in the curb lane on northbound First Avenue just south Cermak Road, where it was nearly rear-ended by another vehicle about 8:35 p.m., police said.

Upon approaching the vehicle, the officer reported that the driver was asleep. It took several attempts to wake the man, later identified as Amien J. Issa, who stated he had fallen asleep while waiting for a train to clear the intersection.

The officer had Issa exit the vehicle, at which time a small plastic bag containing yellow pills fell into the street, according to police. Issa also reportedly had a baggie of cannabis and a portable scale in his coat pocket. In his pants pocket, police reported finding more cannabis and yellow pills, later identified as Xanax, a controlled substance for which Issa did not have a prescription.

Police used a drug-sniffing dog to search Issa’s vehicle. In all, police recovered 41.1 grams of cannabis and 24 Xanax pills along with 80 plastic baggies and two bottles of liquor, which were recovered from the trunk.

Police charged Issa with four felony drug offenses, including possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and possession of cannabis with intent to deliver, misdemeanor DUI and a variety of traffic tickets. Police are seeking to seize Issa’s vehicle as well. He has a March 26 preliminary hearing at the Maybrook courthouse.

Cock-a-doodle don’t

A resident of the 2900 block of Vernon Avenue called police on March 14 just before 7 a.m. to report that a neighbor’s rooster keeps waking her up. Police talked to the rooster’s owner, who said she wasn’t aware of the village’s prohibition of roosters, but promised to remove it. 

Aggravated DUI

  • Rudolf G. Schade III, 49, of LaGrange, faces felony drunken driving charges after his 2004 Buick struck another vehicle from behind while driving on Maple Avenue at Ogden Avenue on March 15 at about 11 p.m.

No one was injured in the crash, but the responding officer reported that Schade appeared intoxicated as he exited his vehicle. The office also reported seeing a beer car in the cup holder of Schade’s vehicle.

Schade reportedly told the police officer that he was driving home from a bar in Brookfield that had closed a decade ago and at first denied there was a beer can in his car. When the officer pointed the beer can out to him, Schade reportedly had no answer for how it got there.

According to the police report, Schade failed field sobriety tests and a breath test revealed his blood-alcohol level to be .177, which is more than twice the legal limit of .08.

Further investigation revealed that Schade’s driver’s license had been suspended for more than a year due to a previous DUI, which led the Cook County State’s Attorney to approve felony charges against him.

  • A 20-year-old Chicago man faces felony drunken driving charges after he was stopped for driving erratically while northbound on Desplaines Avenue and eastbound on 26th Street on March 14 at about 10:20 p.m.

According to police, Fransisco Garcia did not have a valid driver’s license and an officer reported recovering one partially full and four empty beer bottles as well as a case containing three unopened beers inside the Garcia’s 2000 Pontiac van.

A breath test reportedly revealed Garcia’s blood-alcohol level to be .127, which is more than twice the legal limit of .08.

  • Berwyn resident Luis M. Soto, 30, was charged with felony DUI on March 15 after a Riverside police officer pulled over his 1997 Dodge Caravan for driving without headlights on and for driving erratically at about 3 a.m.

Police reported that Soto’s driver’s license had been previously suspended for a DUI arrest and subsequently was arrested for driving on a suspended license.

Pit bull charges mailman

A 55-year-old mail carrier was sorting mail in the back of his van, which was parked in the 3600 block of Blanchan Avenue, on March 15 at about 1:20 p.m. when a large dog, which police described as a pit bull, came charging at him.

The mail carrier ran around the side of the van and got inside the driver’s door before the dog leaped up on the door and started barking at him. After a few moments, the dog ran around to the back of the vehicle and jumped through the open door, barking at the mail carrier through a screen that separates the front of the vehicle from the cargo area.

The dog then jumped out of the van and ran back to the front of the vehicle, at which time a chain attached to the dog’s collar got caught under the driver’s side tire. The dog’s owner subsequently retrieved the dog.

While the dog didn’t bite the mail carrier, he reported feeling pain in his leg from running away. The dog’s owner told police that his pet was in the backyard on a chain, but that the chain snapped and the dog ran after the mail carrier.

Police ticketed the dog’s owner for allowing the dog to run at large.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, March 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

This article has been changed to specify the type of dog that charged the mail carrier.