Brookfield police arrested a 23-year-old Chicago man on May 15 after he fled a traffic stop in February.
On Feb. 5 around 8 a.m., an officer was on patrol, heading east on 31st Street past Prairie Avenue when they saw a westbound black Nissan speeding at 54 mph in the 30-mph zone. The officer made a U-turn to catch up with and stop the car, but the car sped up and turned north into the alley between Prairie and Forest avenues. The officer managed to cut the car off by turning north on Prairie Avenue and catching the car at the 3000 block of the street.
According to police, the driver exited his vehicle and told the officer he lived at one of the homes on the block before re-entering the car against the officer’s commands. The car then made a three-point turn and sped away, ignoring the stop sign at Prairie Avenue and 30th Street and the red light at Prairie Avenue and 31st Street before turning east onto 31st.
Brookfield police contacted the registered owner of the car, who said the man was authorized to drive it. She gave police his name and address in Chicago. The officer who witnessed the man’s driving identified him from a photo lineup, and his address on file matched the one given by the car owner. Police learned the man’s driver’s license had been revoked for previous car theft and fleeing police in a stolen vehicle.
The car owner told police the car had been returned to her possession. She said the only contact she had with the man was through Facebook Messenger, but he had removed her as a Facebook friend after fleeing police.
On Feb. 6, Brookfield police asked Chicago police to contact the man at his address, but they could not.
On May 2, Brookfield police tried to reach the man at his address by waiting outside for two hours, but no one appeared to be home. They tried again on May 8 and 9 to no avail.
On May 12, a Cook County judge granted police a felony arrest warrant for the man, who was taken into custody by Forest Park police on May 15 after a traffic stop. While being transported to central lockup in Berwyn, the man told police he had fled them in February due to being nervous.
Police processed the man on an aggravated charge for fleeing police and eluding arrest before releasing him.
Taillights out
Riverside police arrested a man early the morning of May 20 for driving without taillights.
Around 3:10 a.m., an officer was on patrol on First Avenue near Zoo Woods when they saw a silver Jeep heading north without illuminated taillights while it was dark out. After pulling the car over near West 26th Street, the officer spoke with the driver, who said his car’s taillights worked but that he had forgotten to turn them on.
When asked by the officer, the man provided proof of insurance alongside an Illinois state ID card rather than a driver’s license. After running the man’s information through the police database, the officer learned the man’s driver’s license had been suspended.
The officer arrested the man for driving with a suspended license. The officer had the man’s car towed and transported him to central lockup in Berwyn, where police booked and processed the man for driving without taillights and on a suspended license. Police released the man on pre-trial conditions with a July 18 court date.
These items were obtained from the Riverside Police Department reports dated May 20 and the Brookfield Police Department reports dated May 12-19; 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.
