A 71-year-old charged by Riverside police with criminal trespassing in late January for trying to enter a home in the 200 block of East Quincy Street was arrested and charged again for the same offense on March 1.
Riverside police apprehended the LaGrange Highlands man during the early morning hours in a taxi he hired to bring him to the residence. According to police, the suspect had lived at the residence about 20 years ago and in recent years has repeatedly returned there at all hours trying to enter the home.
Despite numerous warnings, he has continued to appear at the house. He allegedly tried to enter the home on the afternoon of Jan. 25 but fled before police arrived on that occasion.
He reportedly returned the following morning and was still on the scene when police arrived and charged him with trespassing.
Police received a 911 call at 1:24 a.m. on March 1 reporting a burglary in progress at the East Quincy Street home, with the caller saying the same man was attempting to enter through the back door.
The suspect was apprehended inside a taxi at Harlem Avenue and Pershing Road in Lyons. Also inside the taxi were groceries he’d purchased before coming to Riverside.
At the time of his arrest, police also learned the man was wanted on two outstanding warrants by Hillside police for harassment and disorderly conduct.
In 2018, the same man was charged with threatening a public official after allegedly saying he was going to kill Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel for the department’s role in him allegedly losing a job due to a 2005 arrest in Riverside.
At the time of that arrest, he was also wanted for allegedly threatening a public official in Oak Brook.
Driver cited in head-on crash
Riverside police cited a 40-year-old Berwyn woman for improper lane usage and driving too fast for conditions after she lost control of her 2004 Honda sedan and crashed it head-on into a 2013 Nissan SUV driven by a 49-year-old Cicero man. A 2018 Chevy driven by a 19-year-old Berwyn woman then crashed into the rear of the Nissan.
The incident happened on Harlem Avenue near Herrick Road in Riverside on Feb. 21 at about 6:30 p.m.
The drivers of the Nissan and Chevy were taken by paramedics to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for treatment of what police termed non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the Honda and several passengers in the vehicles were not hurt, police said.
According to the police report, the driver of the Honda was northbound on Harlem Avenue when the vehicle slid into the southbound lanes of traffic, striking the Nissan. The impact caused the Nissan to stop abruptly and get rear-ended by the Chevy.
All three vehicles had to be towed from the scene. In addition to the citations given to driver of the Honda, the driver of the Chevy was ticketed for driving without a license and without insurance.
Flying down Cermak
North Riverside police charged a 21-year-old Chicago man with aggravated speeding, fleeing police and cited him for other traffic offenses after an officer reported the man’s gray Chevy pickup traveling at 95 mph while westbound on Cermak Road on Feb. 23 at about 9:10 p.m.
The officer first reported clocking the truck at 83 mph in the 7300 block of Cermak Road, but said the truck accelerated to 95 mpg before turning north on Desplaines Avenue without stopping for a red light and then switching off the truck’s head and tail lights and hitting speeds in excess of 90 mph before pulling over near Roosevelt Road.
The driver reportedly told police that he was going so fast because he thought his girlfriend, who was in the car, was having a miscarriage and that he was taking her to the hospital.
The woman, who was a front seat passenger, reportedly told police she did not want medical attention or to be taken to the hospital.
Irate over sauce and change
A 20-year-old Calumet City woman and a 22-year-old Chicago woman were both charged with battery after they allegedly shoved a 19-year-old cashier at Shark’s Fish and Chicken in the food court of North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, during a transaction on Feb. 23 at about 5:20 p.m.
According to the police report, the two woman had ordered food and requested extra hot sauce. When the cashier told them there would be a $1.18 upcharge for the extra sauce, both women were upset but still paid for it.
As the cashier handed change back to one of the women a quarter accidentally fell out of her hand, prompting her to get upset and allegedly throwing the quarter at the cashier and then pushing him.
The other woman then reportedly pushed the cash register.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Feb. 22-28 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
