Brookfield police on Oct. 23 arrested a 52-year-old Palos Hills man for a hit-and-run incident the day prior.
On Oct. 22 around 6 p.m., an officer responded to the intersection of Prairie and Washington avenues, where the caller had said the incident had occurred, but police did not find the offending vehicle after searching the area.
The officer then went to the 8900 block of Burlington Avenue, where the woman whose car had been struck was located. She told police her car was struck while she was driving south on the 3700 block of Prairie Avenue toward Brookfield Avenue. While she was stopped in traffic caused by a passing train, the blue car struck her car’s rear bumper, police said. The woman said she saw the car begin to reverse, and she thought the driver would pull into a parking spot, but the car instead did a three-point turn and began heading north.
The woman told police she followed the car north on Prairie Avenue and east when it turned onto Washington Avenue but that she lost it before reaching First Avenue. While following the car, the woman called police and read out the car’s license plate. She told police the driver must have been aware of the incident due to his reaction and his failure to get out of the car and share insurance information.
Police found that the hit-and-run was caught on public safety cameras. Police found that the footage corroborated the woman’s version of events. At one point, while both cars were heading east on Washington Avenue, the cameras captured the blue car crossing over the yellow lines into the westbound lane to pass another car. Police could not verify whether the car’s license plate matched the one the woman gave.
After checking that license plate number, police found it was registered to a 52-year-old Palos Hills man. They procured an image of the car’s owner, which matched the physical description the woman gave of the driver.
The next day, around 2:15 p.m., police had conducted a photographic line-up with the woman whose car was struck; she identified the car’s owner as the driver when it struck her car. Police called the man’s phone number on file and left a voicemail; around 3:45 p.m., the man returned the call. The man said he wasn’t sure what incident police were referring to but agreed to come to the police station later.
Around 6:40 p.m., the man arrived at the station and police took him to be interviewed. After being Mirandized, the man confirmed he was the only driver of the blue car but said he did not believe he had been in Brookfield the previous day. He said he had been driving on First Avenue sometime between 2 to 4 p.m. after driving for Uber in the morning and stopping at a forest preserve to nap in his car. He said he drove straight home to Palos Hills and arrived by 4 p.m. and that he had not been drinking while he was driving, as he had two previous DUI arrests. The man did admit he may have fallen asleep while driving and struck a curb, but he did not know where or when. He said he kept driving after striking the curb. After police told him the woman had identified him as the driver whose car struck hers, the man said it was not something he would do and that he did not recall striking a vehicle.
Police charged the man for failing to reduce his speed to avoid an accident, for leaving the scene of an accident and for failing to give his insurance information. Police set a Nov. 26 court date and released him.
Two ticketed in three-car crash
Riverside police on Oct. 20 ticketed two of three drivers involved in a car collision.
Around 2:05 p.m., an officer responded to the intersection of Harlem Avenue and Olmsted Road, where two of the cars were in the middle of the road and the third had driven onto the front lawn of 394 Olmsted Rd. A witness told police that the driver of the blue Toyota was at fault for the incident, because the driver did not stop or look for traffic and ignored a warning honk before going through the intersection.
The driver of the blue Toyota told police he had been driving west on 36th Street when he went to make a left turn to go south on Harlem Avenue. He said he did not see another car heading south and that the car struck his car on the front right side. The force of the collision pushed his car into the northbound traffic lane, where it struck another car.
The driver of the northbound car told police she had been driving north when she saw the blue Toyota quickly enter the intersection from 36th Street. She said she honked to try to get him to stop. She said that the southbound vehicle striking the Toyota pushed it into her car.
Another officer spoke with the driver of the southbound car, who said he did not have enough time to swerve or stop after he saw the Toyota turn from 36th Street. After his car struck the Toyota, he said he lost control and his car drove through shrubs and grass on the lawn at 394 Olmsted Rd. before it came to a stop on Olmstead Road.
Police had all three cars towed due to the severity of the damage rendering them inoperable. The driver of the blue Toyota was cited for failing to yield and not having insurance. The driver of the northbound car was also cited for driving without a valid driver’s license. A court date of Dec. 6 was set for both drivers, who were sent on their ways.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated Oct. 20-23 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated Oct. 22-29; they represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in these reports has only been charged with a crime and cases have not yet been adjudicated. We report the race of a suspect only when a serious crime has been committed, the suspect is still at large and police have provided us with a detailed physical description of the suspect as they seek the public’s help in making an arrest.
