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Forest Park Review, April 6, 2022
C R I M E
Repeat offender involved in DUI crash
A man with an active warrant out for his arrest related to a prior driving under the influence charge was involved in a violent collision on the border between Forest Park and Maywood early on the morning of March 28 and arrested for aggravated DUI. Officers were dispatched to the intersection of First Avenue and Bataan Drive around 4:30 a.m. and found two damaged vehicles ā a Subaru station wagon and BMW SUV. The driver of the Subaru was pinned in their vehicle and had to be extricated by first responders. The driver of the BMW was found on the curb next to the vehicle and āimmediatelyā told officers, āI donāt know whatās going on right now. I fād up, I know.ā Officers later identified the man as Ruben Vera, 36, of Chicago, and found that he had an active warrant for his arrest related to a previous DUI. He also had no valid driverās license and no insurance for his vehicle. At the hospital, Vera told officers he was working in Chicago until 7 p.m. Sunday night, at which point he had ātwo or threeā beers and headed to Schaumburg, leaving the city around 1 a.m. He could not account for the three-and-a-half hours between then and the time of the accident. Vera later submitted a blood sample and was found to have a blood alcohol content above the legal limit to operate a vehicle. He was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence and was also given citations for failure to reduce speed, driving without a valid driverās license,
and operating an uninsured motor vehicle.
Man found dead on Blue Line train Forest Park police were dispatched to the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line station, 711 Desplaines Ave., following a report of an unresponsive person on March 28 around 9:15 a.m. Officers determined the 62-year-old man was deceased at the scene after failing to find a pulse. There were no obvious signs of injury or foul play. A capped hypodermic needle was found near the manās feet and was photographed. No official cause of death had been determined as of April 3, according to the Cook County Medical Examinerās Office.
Lost cellphone goes on spending spree A man who said he inadvertently left his phone in a Walmart bathroom was dismayed to find that his phone had apparently been used to rack up $2,000 in purchases using an online payment app. The man contacted Forest Park police on the evening of March 28 and said he was at the Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave., several days earlier and had apparently left his phone in a toilet stall. Since then, the phone had been used by someone else to charge for āgoods and services.ā The manās bank requested that he file a police report and that Walmart review se-
curity camera footage in an effort to catch the culprit.
Man loses bitcoin in Instagram scam A police officer told a man āif it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,ā after the man was duped out of $300 in bitcoin and lost access to his Instagram account as part of an online scam. According to a police report filed March 29, the man saw an advertisement on Instagram promising to give him $1,000 if he guessed a number correctly. The man did guess the correct number but was told he would have to turn over some bitcoin before he could collect the cash. In the process of doing so, the man was also somehow locked out of his Instagram account. The man understood āthe money is goneā but wanted to file a police report in order to regain access to his Instagram.
Intoxicated man irritates pool players
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An man told police he was choked near a pool table at a bar in the 7600 block of Madison Street around 10:45 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29. The man, who told officers it was his birthday, met police outside the bar and began yelling at them while giving his statement. He told officers he was choked by a man in black clothing with an orange and black hat. When officers went inside and spoke to a bartender, she told them the man, whom she believed was highly intoxicated, want-
ed to play pool but didnāt have any quarters. So he began grabbing the pool cues of paying customers. The other customers were upset by this, the bartender said, but she did not see any physical confrontation. The man was sent home for the night and no one was arrested.
Large disturbance reported outside bar Between 15 and 20 people were reportedly yelling and pushing each other outside a bar in the 7300 block of Madison Street, not long after midnight on Wednesday, March 30. Officers were dispatched to the scene and saw several of the barās security guards attempting to disperse the crowd. The security guards later told officers that the incident began with a fight between two women inside the bar. According to a police report, it took officers 20 minutes to eventually send the uncooperative crowd on its way. However, only a few minutes after the dispute was broken up, officers were sent to a nearby gas station where they observed some of the same people arguing at that location. No citations were immediately issued and no one was arrested. These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, March 28-30, 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 Andy Viano
