Riverside police responded to the 300 block of Northwood Road on Aug. 28 around 3:35 p.m. after a resident called, concerned about a man who appeared to be lost.

Police located the man standing on the sidewalk. However, the officer couldn’t understand what the man was saying because he spoke only French. Police gave the man a ride to the station and attempted to find a French translator, which they did — the mother-in-law of a Forest Park police officer.

After talking with the man, the translator relayed that the man was visiting his daughter, a North Riverside resident. He had accompanied her to Ames School that morning to drop off his grandchildren at school.

Because the kids’ mom could not be home on time to pick the children, she asked her father to pick them up after school. The man couldn’t locate the school and tried asking people where it was, but they couldn’t understand him.

Arrangements were made to have the children picked up at school and a cab was ordered to take the man to his daughter’s home in North Riverside.  

Mall kiosk burglarized

The manager of the Zunis Threading kiosk inside the North Riverside Park Mall, 7501 Cermak Road, contacted police on Aug. 25 after an employee reported to him that the lock on a cash drawer had been tampered with.

The manager stated that cash was missing from the drawer, which had been secured by another employee the previous day. Police reported that the drawer appeared to have been pried open, damaging the lock.

A 47-year-old North Riverside resident contacted police on Aug. 27 to report that her daughter’s Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer and a black sweater were taken from her unlocked 2008 Chevy Impala, which was parked in the 2300 block of Forest Avenue overnight.

Smacked with towel

A 46-year-old North Riverside woman told police she was sitting on a bench with her 26-year-old daughter in the Village Commons Park near the Westover cul-de-sac on Aug. 28 about 9 p.m.

Two teenage boys reportedly rode their bikes past them very slowly. Minutes later, they rode by the two women again very fast. One of the boys allegedly threw a towel containing wood chips at the two women, hitting the mother in the face. She was uninjured. Police could not locate any suspects.

Car window smashed out

A 26-year-old Brookfield man called North Riverside police on Aug. 29 around 2:30 a.m. The man told police he parked his 2014 Toyota Prius in the 2200 block of 17th Avenue about 9:30 p.m. When he returned roughly five hours later, the rear driver’s side window was shattered. Nothing was reported missing from inside the vehicle. 

Passed out behind the wheel

Riverside police charged a 28-year-old Cicero man with driving under the influence after an officer reported finding him passed out behind the wheel of his 2008 Chevy, which was stopped in the middle of the roadway in the crosswalk of Longcommon Road near Forest Avenue on Aug. 25 about 1:15 a.m.

After being awakened by a police officer, the driver took his foot off the brake, causing the car to move forward. The officer ordered him to stop and put the car in park, which he did. The driver reportedly failed field sobriety tests and was taken into custody for DUI.

Police reported that the man’s blood-alcohol level was .155, which is nearly twice the legal limit of .08.

In no condition to canoe

Brookfield police responded to Hitzeman Funeral Home, 9445 W. 31st St., on Aug. 27 about 11 p.m. after receiving a call relating that a man changed his clothes in the parking lot of the business before riding off on a bike, carrying a canoe paddle.

Police located a man matching that description at Madison and Jackson avenues. The 53-year-old Countryside resident appeared to be intoxicated and reportedly told police he was on his way to pick up his canoe and paddle down the Des Plaines River to his home.

After talking it over with police, the man agreed he was in no condition to either ride his bike or paddle a canoe. Police called the man a cab, which took him home.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Aug. 25-28, 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