DUI suspect crashes car, flees police, swims river
A 21-year-old Brookfield man on parole for a 2012 vehicular hijacking conviction was arrested by Brookfield police on May 5 and charged with drunken driving and numerous traffic violations after he reportedly took a relative’s blue 2000 Jeep Cherokee without permission, got into a crash at Ogden and Maple and then struck a building and two more vehicles in Lyons before leading police on a foot chase that ended in Brookfield.
Anthony M. Rice was charged in Brookfield with leaving the scene of an accident and driving on a suspended license. But Lyons police charged him with DUI, three counts of leaving the scene of an accident, fleeing and eluding, reckless driving and resisting arrest after he tried to escape police.
According to the police report, Rice had been drinking alcohol earlier in the day and took the keys to his cousin’s vehicle. About 6:50 p.m., a 33-year-old Chicago man went to police after his Chevy Equinox was rear-ended at a red light on Ogden at Maple Avenue by a blue Jeep Cherokee that left the scene.
Rice then struck a building in the 8100 block of Ogden Avenue before leading Lyons police on a high-speed chase in which the Cherokee reportedly struck two other vehicles before flipping over and skidding 125 feet and coming to rest at Konrad and Patricia.
“This was definitely a person we needed to stop before he hurt anyone,” said Lyons Deputy Police Chief Matthew Buckley.
Rice then allegedly clambered out of the vehicle and jumped into Salt Creek, swimming across it before being apprehended by police on the other side. He was taken to the hospital for treatment of minor injuries, according to Buckley, and because he was “highly under the influence.”
Riverside reports ‘swatting’ incident
Riverside’s police chief reported a possible “swatting” attempt last week after someone called the son of former Cook County Commissioner Tony Peraica, saying someone was holding his father for ransom at gunpoint.
Riverside and Lyons police responded to Peraica’s Scottswood Road home and were able to verify that Peraica was unharmed and had not been taken hostage. Police continue to investigate the origin of the cellphone call made to Peraica’s son.
“Swatting” incidents are cases in which someone seeks to draw a massive police response, often involving SWAT teams.
“As agencies have become more familiar with these hoax kidnappings or swatting incidents, our initial response was appropriate,” said Police Chief Thomas Weitzel.
Car shot up
Someone with a handgun fired five rounds into an unoccupied 2011 Chevy Malibu parked in an alley behind the 9400 block of 47th Street, Brookfield, during the early morning hours of May 7.
Police received several 911 calls reporting what sounded like shots fired in the vicinity of 47th Street and Raymond Avenue about 3:15 a.m. While police did not find any shell casings at the scene, they did report locating the Malibu which had what looked to be five gunshot holes in the driver’s side door.
Officers reported recovering two projectiles from the scene, one pristine and one deformed, along with other items that will be sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab. No one was reported injured and the car was unoccupied at the time of the incident, according to police.
Man charged with burglary
Brookfield police say one man has been charged in connection with three garage burglaries reported on May 4 on the south end of the village and charges against a second suspect are pending crime lab results of items recovered at the scene of each incident.
Marco A. Orseno, 24, of San Jose, California, and an unnamed man were arrested by Brookfield police after the two were identified as suspects by police following the May 4 incidents in the 4100 block of Madison Avenue, the 9000 block of Southview Avenue and the 4000 block of Park Avenue.
Items taken in the burglaries included power tools, bicycles and a GPS unit. In one of the incidents, the two fled the scene without any items when they set off an alarm by shouldering open the garage’s service door about 1:50 a.m. Images of the two were captured on a video surveillance camera.
Police reported learning that the two men were staying at a motel in Lyons during the past couple of weeks and conducted surveillance on the two, who were taken into custody and interviewed.
Orseno was subsequently charged with burglary. The other suspect was released pending crime lab results.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 4-10, 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
