Stabbing was self-defense, says state’s attorney

A 50-year-old Willow Springs man was acting in self-defense when he stabbed a 49-year-old Cicero man during a drunken altercation in the backyard of a North Riverside home just before 1 a.m. on June 22, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office ruled after investigating the incident.

The two men, longtime friends, were watching sports, grilling and having drinks at the home of a friend in the 2200 block of Keystone Avenue. The trio had gone through at least two 30-packs of beer, according to the police report, and had been drinking elsewhere during the previous day.

At one point, according to the report, the Cicero man started squeezing the Willow Springs man’s face, which started an argument. The two men ended up in the backyard, where they started to fight physically. The Willow Springs man fell to the ground and the Cicero man, who is the larger of the two, got on top and reportedly put his forearm across the Willow Springs man’s neck.

The Willow Springs man told police he felt he was blacking out. In a panic, he reportedly reached for a folding knife he had on his hip, grabbed it and stabbed the Cicero man in the abdomen.

The owner of the house, hearing the ruckus outside, ran to intervene and was accidentally stabbed in the knee, according to police. All three men were taken to area hospitals for treatment. No charges were filed.

Cops: Man stole concert tickets

Riverside police charged a 21-year-old Indian Head Park man with two counts of theft after he allegedly swiped two tickets for the Spring Awakening concert from a 21-year-old Mount Prospect woman who arranged to sell the tickets to the man in Riverside on June 15.

The victim had arranged on Facebook to sell the two tickets to the man for a total of $300. Both parties were to meet for the exchange in the 100 block of Pine Avenue in Riverside. When he arrived, the suspect had cash in his hand and approached the female, who was holding the tickets. But instead of exchanging the cash for the tickets, according to police, the suspect grabbed the tickets out of the woman’s hand and ran to a car and fled east.

The suspect, however, had used his actual Facebook profile to set up the exchange and police were able to track him to an address in Indiana Head Park. Police arrested the man on June 16 at that address.

Burglary

  • Two Broadview residents have been charged with burglary after allegedly breaking into the home of a high school classmate on June 8 in the 2200 block of Westover Avenue in North Riverside.

Following the break-in, on June 11, police obtained video surveillance footage from a neighbor, which showed two people outside the home at the time of the burglary. A resident of the home reportedly immediately identified the two as classmates at Riverside-Brookfield High School.

After North Riverside police interviewed the suspects, police charged a 16-year-old girl with burglary. She was released to the custody of her father; her case will be handled by Cook County Juvenile Justice authorities. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office charged Keyon Fleming, 19, with felony burglary. He is being held on $5,000 bond at Cook County Jail while awaiting a June 30 court date.

  • A resident of the 2500 block of Hainsworth Avenue, North Riverside, contacted police on June 16 to report that sometime during the previous two days, someone had entered his possibly unlocked garage and removed an older Red Devil power washer and a cloth bag of assorted Husky hand tools.

  • Brookfield police responded to the 3900 block of Sunnyside Avenue at 7:50 p.m. on June 17 after a report of two subjects running northbound while screaming and yelling. When police arrived a 33-year-old man waved down police to report that his sister-in-law witnessed two subjects attempting to steal objects from a vehicle belonging to a family member.

The man’s sister-in-law told police that one suspect appeared to be a lookout, while a second subject was sitting inside her vehicle, rifling through it. The vehicle was reportedly parked in the 9000 block of Southview Avenue. The two subjects fled north on Sunnyside Avenue when she yelled at them.

Police were unable to sing suspects matching the description given by the victim. Nothing appeared to be missing from the vehicle.

  • A 29-year-old Brookfield man called police on June 18 after observing that his 2001 Mitsubishi Diamante, which was parked in the 4500 block of Oak Avenue, Brookfield, had been burglarized overnight.

The vehicle’s trunk was left wide open and the driver’s side door was closed, but not latched. About $10 in cash, four packs of cigarettes and pair of prescription glasses were missing from the vehicle.

  • A resident of the 4200 block of Elm Avenue, Brookfield, contacted police on June 21 after finding the glove box to his 2010 Honda Odyssey open and all of the items removed. A wallet was reported missing from the vehicle, which was likely unlocked. The vehicle was broken into during the overnight hours, according to police.

Dogs left in car

Brookfield police ticketed an 18-year-old Brookfield man twice on June 16 and 17 after he was found to have left his dogs inside his car in direct sunlight on a hot day.

On June 16 at about 7:40 a.m., a police officer observed a silver Saab parked in the 4600 block of Custer Avenue. The unattended vehicle had two full-size pit bulls in the vehicle without food or water.

The officer watched the vehicle until 8:40 a.m., when he made contact with the dogs’ owner, whom the officer knew due to three prior incidents where the dogs were left unattended in his car. Due to the prior warnings, the officer issued the man a ticket for violating the village’s animal confinement in a motor vehicle law. The man was also ticketed for not having rabies tags for his dogs’ collars.

On June 17 at 8:05 a.m., police were again called to the same block after a Lyons police officer observed the pit bulls inside the same unattended Saab without food or water.

Because temperatures were forecast to be in the 90s, police removed the dogs from the vehicle and transported them to an animal shelter and police again ticketed the dogs’ owner.

Auto theft

A 30-year-old Chicago man contacted Brookfield police on June 16 to report that a friend’s silver BMW 352i had been stolen from behind a building in the 9400 block of Ogden Avenue.

The man said he was washing the car for his friend at about 10 a.m. He was cleaning the interior of the vehicle when he ran out of cleaning wipes. He went inside to get more wipes and came out shortly afterwards, only to find the car missing. The man told police he had left the keys in the ignition and that the doors were unlocked.

At 7:30 p.m., Chicago police contacted Brookfield to report that the stolen vehicle had been located in the 5100 block of South Luna Avenue. The vehicle was found undamaged, according to police.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, June 11-22, 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