A 52-year-old Carpentersville man who works for a private firm as a security guard at North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, was charged with misdemeanor aggravated assault after he pointed a pepper spray gun at a fellow security guard during a confrontation in the mall food court on Feb. 25 at about 5:25 p.m.
A mall patron called police to report that two security guards were engaged in a verbal altercation near Dunkin Donuts when one of the men pulled out a weapon and pointed it at the other.
Security camera video reportedly showed the victim walking east approaching the food court when he stops and looks behind him. The offender reportedly approached the victim at a rapid walking pace and the two went chest to chest, speaking closely to each other.
The victim at some point pushed the offender’s body up against the counter at Dunkin Donuts, causing the offender to shove him away with both hands, pull out his pepper spray gun and point it directly at the victim’s face before re-holstering it. An employee from a nearby kiosk then stepped between the two men.
According to police, the offender said that he had relieved the victim multiple times that day. In frustration, he exchanged words with the victim in the food court and reacted the way he did because he felt threatened.
DUI after car crash at Harrington Park
- Riverside police charged a 28-year-old Berwyn man with drunken driving, fleeing and eluding, speeding and other offenses after he reportedly tried to speed away from a police officer trying to conduct a traffic stop and ended up crashing into a tree and wood safety barrier on the perimeter of Harrington Park at the intersection of Gage and South Delaplaine roads on Feb. 21 at about 10:20 p.m.
Police initially received a call of a dark-colored vehicle driving recklessly near Indian Gardens. Shortly afterward, an officer on patrol reported seeing a black Toyota speeding eastbound on Riverside Road and then Gage Road at an estimated 50 to 60 mph.
The officer turned on his lights and siren, but the Toyota kept going, trying to make a left turn onto Delaplaine Road, where it crashed into the park barrier. The driver was not injured, but he allegedly appeared intoxicated.
The driver’s blood-alcohol content reportedly was .12, which is greater than the legal limit of .08.
In addition to the drunken driving charges, fleeing/eluding and speeding, the driver was cited for illegal transportation of alcohol, damage to village property, possession of cannabis and failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.
- A 38-year-old Stickney woman was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol after she reportedly crashed her blue Jeep into a traffic signal at the intersection of First Avenue and Ridgewood Road, Riverside, on Feb. 19 at 5:15 a.m.
The driver was not hurt, but police reported that a child inside the vehicle was bleeding from his nose. According to police, the driver said she was coming home from a party at a family member’s house and that she did not recall what caused the crash, only that it happened.
In addition to DUI, police charged the driver with endangering the life of a child and damage to a highway structure.
- Brookfield police charged a 54-year-old Brookfield woman with DUI after she allegedly struck an occupied vehicle while backing into a parking stall in a parking lot behind a building in the 8900 block of Burlington Avenue on Feb. 24 at about 5:35 p.m.
The victim and two witnesses told police that after striking his vehicle, the woman threw a bottle of beer into the trash and went inside the building. Police also reported recovering an open bottle of tequila from the passenger side floorboard of the woman’s vehicle.
Her blood-alcohol content reportedly was .187, which is more than twice the legal limit of .08.
Stolen vehicles recovered
North Riverside police recovered two vehicles at the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, one a Kia and the other a Hyundai, that had been stolen elsewhere last week.
On Feb. 20 at about 12:25 p.m., police observed a silver Kia, with a broken rear passenger window covered by a sheet and a peeled steering column, parked in the lower-level parking deck. Security camera video showed that the vehicle entered the mall parking lot behind an orange Kia, which also had a broken rear window.
On that same day, there was a retail theft in the mall and one of the offenders was observed running toward the silver Kia. The person was being chased by store employees and instead got into the orange Kia, which fled the area.
On Feb. 21 at about 12:20 p.m., one of the village’s Flock license plate reader cameras sent an alert of a stolen black Hyundai entering the mall from 26th Street. The vehicle pulled into a space in the lower-level parking deck and two people, a 21-year-old Cicero man and a juvenile, exited.
Police detained the two, charging the adult with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and illegal possession of cannabis. The juvenile, who was the alleged driver of the vehicle and had gotten permission to drive it from someone for $50, was transferred to the custody of Cook County Juvenile Justice authorities for possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
DUI
A 37-year-old Chicago man faces felony drunken driving charges after reportedly passing out behind the wheel of his silver Toyota Camry at a stop light in the northbound lanes of traffic at 31st Street on Feb. 24 at about 4:20 p.m.
Police received multiple 911 calls of a man lounging in the driver’s seat of the car. When they arrived on scene, police reported the driver to be intoxicated and that one of the vehicle’s windows was smashed in, which the driver could not explain. They also reported observing an open beer in the car’s center console.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Feb. 19-26, 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
