A 50-year-old Berwyn man faces a felony burglary charge after he allegedly entered an unlocked vehicle parked in the driveway of a home in the 400 block of Blackhawk Road, Riverside, late on May 3.

According to Riverside police, a security camera at the residence captured video of Michael Goetz at about 11:50 p.m. walking past the front door of the home into the driveway, where he is seen pulling on a vehicle’s door handle.

Discovering that door is locked, police said, Goetz is then seen opening the door to another vehicle parked on the driveway, entering it and using a flashlight to look around. The car’s owner received an alert that someone was on the property and yelled at the person inside her vehicle. That person, later identified as Goetz, then ran eastbound toward Harlem Avenue.

Police reported locating Goetz near Harlem and Ogden avenues, where they took him into custody. While the police report does not detail how Goetz was detained, it does state that paramedics had to be called to the scene and that Goetz was taken to MacNeal Hospital for treatment of unspecified injuries. He was later also charged with resisting arrest.

According to police, Goetz had suspicious items on his person, including several credit cards with other people’s names on them and two sets of keys.

As of May 15, Goetz was still being held at Cook County Jail awaiting separate hearing dates at the Maybrook courthouse, on May 25 and June 1.

Stolen car checks end in charges

  • North Riverside police charged Jerika Jackson, 28, of Harvey, with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, manufacture/delivery of MDMA and criminal trespass to a vehicle after officers converged on CVS, 7200 Cermak Road, on May 10 at about 10:15 a.m.

A license plate reader camera alerted police to a stolen Hyundai Sonata traveling northbound on Harlem Avenue from 25th Street and police located the vehicle in the parking lot of CVS.

Officers detained a passenger, a 29-year-old Chicago man, who was seated in the rear of the parked vehicle. He was charged with criminal trespass to a vehicle. Jackson, the driver, was taken into custody as she exited the store.

Inside her purse, which was behind the driver’s seat, police reported finding a loaded .40-caliber handgun and a plastic bag containing 26 pills, which field-tested positive for MDMA, or ecstasy.

  • David Robinson, 48, of Blue Island, was charged with felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle after he reportedly was caught behind the wheel of a U-Haul van that had been reported stolen out of Chicago two days earlier.

A North Riverside police officer on patrol on May 8 at about 2:20 p.m. received an alert that the stolen van was traveling northbound on Harlem Avenue from 26th Street. The officer located the van waiting at a stoplight at Cermak Road and followed it north to Roosevelt Road, where he initiated a traffic stop.

Robinson reportedly attempted to run from the scene but was apprehended by police after a short chase. Two other people inside the vehicle were released without being charged.

DUI rollover crash

Riverside police charged a 26-year-old Chicago woman with driving under the influence of alcohol after she allegedly drove a Chevy truck northbound on Powell Avenue in Lyons through the stop sign at Ogden Avenue, and struck a westbound Toyota on May 3 at about 1:10 a.m.

The impact of the crash rolled the truck over onto its side. Neither the driver of the truck nor the two people inside the Toyota, an Uber driver and his passenger, were hurt. Both vehicles were inoperable after the crash.

The driver of the truck reportedly told police she had stopped at the stop sign, but both the Uber driver and an independent witness contradicted that claim. She told police she was driving from a bar in Lyons to a friend’s house in Riverside when the crash occurred.

According to police, the truck driver failed sobriety tests and a breath test revealed her blood-alcohol content to be .168, which is more than twice the legal limit of .08. 

Reckless driving

A 24-year-old Lyons woman called police on May 9 to report that while she was driving westbound in the center lane on 47th Street, another vehicle recklessly cut in front of her, striking the front passenger side of her car.

The victim snapped a photo of the vehicle, a two-tone bronze and silver PT Cruiser, which the victim said she had observed driving recklessly on 47th Street the previous day.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 3-14, 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