A 44-year-old Chicago woman reported a vehicle stolen after someone who was looking to buy the car took it out for a test drive but never returned on the evening of May 26.
The victim told police she’d bought the red 2000 Hyundai Tiburon coupe for her son a few days earlier, but that they decided to sell it because he son didn’t know how to drive a car with a stick shift.
She placed the car for sale on the website Offer Up and an interested party contacted her. They met behind a business in the 9400 block of 47th Street where the vehicle was parked.
The purported buyer, who was dropped off by a rideshare, was described as a white male, about 6 feet tall with long blonde hair, a slim build and a tattoo on his left calf. He was accompanied by a white woman in her 20s, with red hair and wearing a tie-dye shirt and a baseball cap. Both wore face coverings.
After inspecting the car, the man asked if he could test drive it. The seller gave him the keys and the two drove off and didn’t return. The seller tried contacting the man via Offer Up without success.
Police were able to track down the purported buyer’s Offer Up page, where they said it appeared he was selling stolen items. The investigation continues.
Man injured in apparent home invasion
A 34-year-old man suffered facial injuries during a May 25 incident at an apartment in the 9100 block of Cermak Road in North Riverside that resulted in two people being charged with criminal damage to property but which sounded like an apparent home invasion.
Police responded to the second floor apartment where a large fight had been called in. They found the victim bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow and they stopped a vehicle seen fleeing the scene.
The victim told police the five teenagers inside the vehicle were involved in the incident and that they were trying to get to a 16-year-old boy inside the apartment. Three of the alleged offenders banged on the door and windows of the apartment while two others climbed on the roof of an adjacent building and ripped the screen out of a bedroom window to get in.
The victim said he did not wish to pursue criminal charges, but the building’s owner said she would sign complaints for criminal damage against two of the offenders.
DUI
Brookfield police charged a 43-year-old Willowbrook man with drunken driving after he reportedly crashed his white Chrysler 300 into three parked cars in the 4000 block of Sunnyside Avenue, less than a block away from a bar he had just left on May 30 at about 1:30 a.m.
The man sustained minor injuries in the crash, and he was taken to the hospital by paramedics where he was treated and released back into police custody at about 3:20 a.m. In addition to driving under the influence of alcohol, the driver was cited for two traffic offenses.
A 51-year-old Burbank man faces drunken driving charges after he was arrested in Brookfield on May 28 just before 7 a.m. while driving on Grand Boulevard.
A police officer reported seeing the man’s 2021 Toyota Rav 4 cross the center line and weave back and forth into the parking lane while southbound from the 3200 block of Grand Boulevard. The officer stopped the vehicle in the 3900 block of Prairie Avenue and reported that the driver appeared to be intoxicated. They also reported finding a bottle of vodka in a bag on the front passenger seat.
Police reported that a breath test administered about a half hour later at the police station revealed the driver’s blood-alcohol content to be .284, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08.
Brookfield police charged a 45-year-old Chicago woman with drunken driving after she reportedly drove her black Chevy Trax into two vehicles parked in the main lot of Ehlert Park, where a youth softball game was taking place, on May 27 at about 8:10 p.m.
Police said the woman appeared to be extremely intoxicated and that a witness had stopped the woman from driving away, getting her to hand him the keys to the vehicle. They also reported finding two vodka bottles, one empty and one half empty, inside the vehicle.
According to police, the woman said she went to the field to pick up a child who was playing a game there. However, the child actually was playing at a field in another nearby town.
The woman reportedly refused all sobriety tests. In addition to DUI, she was cited or illegal transportation of open alcohol and other traffic offenses.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 24-30 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
