Brookfield police charged a 23-year-old Chicago woman with driving under the influence of alcohol after she allegedly drove her blue 2019 Ford Fusion into the wall of the fountain in the middle of the Veteran Memorial Circle at Eight Corners during the early morning hours of Oct. 15.
While the curb, grass, landscaping and perimeter wall of the fountain were damaged and the vehicle’s air bags deployed, neither the driver nor her 26-year-old female passenger were injured.
According to the police report, the driver’s blood-alcohol content was .256, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08, and she reportedly told police she believed she was somewhere in Chicago and had no idea how the crash happened.
But village security cameras at Eight Corners captured the crash, which happened at about 3:35 a.m. Video reportedly showed the blue Ford traveling southbound on Maple Avenue and blowing through the stop sign at the circle before driving directly into the circle and coming to a rest after striking the fountain.
Police also reported recovering an open can of a strawberry-flavored margarita drink, which had spilled onto the driver’s side floorboard. In addition to DUI, police cited the driver for several traffic offenses, including failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash, disobeying a stop sign, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, illegal transportation of open alcohol and damage to village property.
Brookfield Public Works Director Carl Muell said the damage to the fountain was minor. It’s unlikely any damage will be repaired, since the entire Veterans Memorial Circle is in for a complete overhaul in 2022. The project had been planned for this fall but was pushed back until spring.
It’s not the first time an alleged drunk driver has crashed into the fountain. In 2006, the fountain itself was destroyed when a car crashed into it, forcing it to be replaced. In 2011 an alleged drunk driver did more than $4,000 damage to the fountain.
Senior citizen lets in phony ‘Com Ed’ worker, home burglarized
North Riverside police reported a residential burglary last week where the homeowner was the victim of a ruse involving a man claiming to be a ComEd employee who needed to check her home’s circuit breakers due to power outages.
The offender was described as a white male in his late 30s or early 40s, wearing a dark blue shirt and pants, a Chicago Cubs hat and a Chicago Bears or Cubs face mask. On Oct. 14 at about 12:55 p.m. the man appeared at the senior citizen’s front door. Although he wasn’t wearing a ComEd uniform or an ID badge, the homeowner let the man in.
While in the kitchen, the man produced a $100 bill and asked the victim for a $50 bill in change so he could give her a “rebate.” The victim didn’t have a $50 but she produced several envelopes containing $245 in cash, at which point the offender told her he would issue an electronic rebate.
The two then went to the basement where the offender told the victim to switch off the circuit breakers and wait 30 seconds before switching them back on. The offender left the basement and after the victim switched off the circuit breakers twice and waited 30 seconds, she came upstairs to find the offender gone and the $245 missing from the envelopes.
The victim then observed that two bedrooms had been ransacked and later discovered other missing items, including several pieces of jewelry including a 1959 Riverside-Brookfield High School class ring along with another $500 in cash.
Car left running, unlocked, stolen from gas station
A woman called police at about 8:50 a.m. on Oct. 13 to report that someone had just stolen her red 2005 Ford Taurus from the lot at Citgo, 539 Longcommon Road.
The victim told police she had parked the car on the north side of the minimart and left it running and unlocked while she went inside. When she returned, the car was gone, along with her house keys and purse which were inside the vehicle.
Police viewed store security video, which showed a silver SUV with side damage pull into the lot at 8:45 a.m. A man of unknown race wearing a face mask, black shirt, black pants, yellow jacket and yellow gym shoes then exits the passenger side front door, walks over to the victim’s vehicle and gets inside and drives away northbound on Harlem Avenue.
The victim later called to report that one of her credit cards was used at a Citgo station in Countryside.
Theft from vehicle
- North Riverside police reported that sometime between Oct. 8 and Oct. 10 someone removed the license plates from a vehicle that had been parked in a lot where a building is under construction at 26th Street and First Avenue. The victim reported the incident on Oct. 12
- A Brookfield resident went to police on the morning of Oct. 16 to report that someone had removed the registration sticker from the rear license plate of her vehicle sometime in the past week.
Doing doughnuts in the mall lot
North Riverside police charged a 24-year-old Chicago man with reckless driving after an officer on patrol reported observing a 2011 Chevy Cruze doing doughnuts while driving in and out of parking lanes in the parking lot of the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, on Oct. 16 at about 6:25 p.m.
The arresting officer noted that the mall was open and people were walking through the parking lot at the time. The man has a Dec. 6 hearing date at the Maybrook courthouse.
DUI charge in 3-car crash
Brookfield police charged a 40-year-old Brookfield man with driving under the influence and alcohol and drug possession after he allegedly drove his white Kia Sportage through a stop sign at the intersection of Maple and Garfield avenues, striking two vehicles on Oct. 11 just before 4:30 p.m.
The Kia reportedly crashed into a Honda Civic driven by a 33-year-old Chicago man and a Hyundai Tucson driven by a 37-year-old Midlothian man who was with his 3-year-old daughter.
No one was seriously hurt, according to police, but the alleged offender reportedly admitted to smoking cannabis and drinking alcohol prior to getting behind the wheel. Police reported recovering from the vehicle two zip-top plastic bags containing a total of about 23 grams of cannabis, along with a blue metal e-cigarette containing cannabis oil residue.
In addition to DUI, the driver was cited for possession of cannabis, disobeying a stop sign and other traffic offenses.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Oct. 11-17 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
