The owner of a kiosk business selling vaping products at North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, alleges he was robbed at gunpoint of $500 in merchandise and his wallet, which contained $1,500 in cash and his passport while delivering the products to a customer in a vehicle in the lower-level parking deck on Oct. 1 at about 6:10 p.m.

According to police, the victim said he received a phone call from a customer, who ordered three items for curbside pickup and that she was in a blue Chevy parked in the parking deck.

The victim said he went to the parking deck and saw the customer standing outside the car and that she told him to come over to her vehicle and get inside to make the transaction.

After the victim entered the rear area of the vehicle, two men entered the car and sat next to him. One reportedly put a handgun to the victim’s head and demanded him to empty his pockets.

The victim told police he tried to wrestle the handgun away from the man and that he was eventually able to escape the vehicle without being harmed, but without his wallet. The victim ran back inside the mall and called police.

According to police, the victim received a phone call from the customer at about 9:30 p.m. that night asking for $3,000 in exchange for his wallet. Police advised against setting up a meeting to do that.

Reckless driving

North Riverside police charged a 33-year-old Chicago man with reckless driving and aggravated speeding after an officer on patrol clocked his white Nissan Maxima traveling at 105 mph in a 35 mph zone while eastbound in the 8200 block of Cermak Road on Sept. 29 at about 12:40 a.m.

The car turned southbound onto Desplaines Avenue, where the officer made a traffic stop and arrested the driver. 

A man who reportedly told police he suspected his girlfriend of cheating on him and who said he was on his way to her house was pulled over by police and charged with aggravated speeding for allegedly driving his Dodge Charger 94 mph in a 30 mph zone while southbound on Harlem Avenue from Lawton Road in Riverside on Sept. 28 at about 8:55 p.m.

Police stopped the vehicle at Ogden Avenue and arrested the driver.

DUI charge in rollover crash

Brookfield police charged a 24-year-old Chicago man with drunken driving and cited him for other offenses after he allegedly crashed his 2020 Kia into a parked pickup truck in the 3100 block of Harrison Avenue on Oct. 2 at about 11:25 p.m.

The impact of the crash caused the truck to be pushed onto the parkway and the Kia to roll over, landing on its roof. The driver, who reportedly told police he was talking on his cellphone at the time of the crash, was not injured.

According to police, the driver admitted drinking alcohol prior to getting behind the wheel. His blood-alcohol content was reported to be .161, which is more than twice the legal limit of .08.

North Riverside police charged a 25-year-old Blue Island woman with drunken driving after she reportedly drove her vehicle off the roadway and onto the railroad tracks, where it got stuck, near the intersection of Cermak Road and First Avenue on Sept. 27 at about 4:20 a.m.

Riverside vehicle break-ins

Riverside police responded to the 300 block of East Burlington Street on Sept. 30 at 1:40 a.m. after a resident called to report that his vehicle had just been burglarized. The victim said he heard footsteps outside and then heard a door shut. When he looked outside he saw man with a flashlight.

When he asked the man what he was doing, the person walked away westbound on East Burlington Street. The victim went to check his vehicle and observed it had been burglarized.

Police were unable to locate a suspect, but they did find another vehicle on the block that had been entered and rummaged through. Neither vehicle showed signs of forced entry, according to police.

A resident of the 400 block of Longcommon Avenue called police on the morning of Oct. 5 to report that her son observed a man inside their vehicle at around 7:20 a.m. When the son asked what he was doing, the man made a few evasive statements before running off toward Harlem Avenue.

A Coach purse containing $20 in cash, prescription medication and miscellaneous items was taken from the vehicle.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Sept. 27-Oct. 4, 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