Crime

CRIME 6-year-old boy injures himself with uncle’s gun

A six-year-old boy who lived with his grandmother on the 200 block of Circle Avenue ended up in a hospital with his finger shot off after he accidentally discharged his uncle’s gun.

The grandmother told officers she has been raising the boy since he was eight months old, and that his parents live in Milwaukee. She said that, on June 21, the uncle was watching her grandson. The gun was stored in the closet in the bag, and it’s not clear how the boy got his hands on the gun. The uncle had a valid Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card.

The grandmother said she just returned home at around 1 p.m. when the incident happened. The two adults decided to take the boy to Rush Oak Park Hospital emergency room, 520 S. Maple Ave. The uncle subsequently went back to the apartment to retrieve the boy’s finger. Neither of the relatives contacted emergency services – the emergency room staff reported the incident to police.

The grandmother declined to give the police permission to search her apartment. She told the officers that she didn’t know if the gun was still there. Police units were sent to keep an eye on the apartment as officers waiting for the search warrant.

The boy was transported to Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, 225 E. Chicago Ave.

Identity theft attempt

Identity thieves tried to trick a resident of 500 block of Grove Lane by acting as if they were Amazon employees trying to prevent fraud.

The scammer called the resident on June 21 at around 9 a.m., saying that he was from Amazon and that someone tried to use her account to buy $1,000 worth of merchandise in several different states. He told her they needed her information to prevent fraud. While she confirmed her identity, she didn’t share her social security number or any financial information. The scammer said he was transferring the resident to the Treasury Department and the Social Security Administration. She then spoke to an individual who identified himself as “Peter Williams,” who had her take a picture of her driver’s license and text it. That’s when the resident realized that it was likely a scam and stopped answering questions.

The resident said that she contacted her bank and credit card companies, and she planned to contact Amazon and the Social Security Administration to alert them of the incident.

Car burglaries

Forest Park saw three car burglaries on three consecutive days – but the latter two involved burglars taking advantage of unlocked doors.

The first incident happened on the 7200 block of Madison Street. The victim said sometime between June 20 at 9 p.m. and June 21 at 8 a.m., someone broke into her car, a white 2015 Infiniti Sedan. The burglar smashed the rear driver’s side window, which allowed him to gain entry. The perpetrator went through the car’s center console. The only thing taken were a few bills stashed in the console – the rest of the items were dumped onto car’s back seat.

During the investigation, the victim discovered that her key fob wasn’t working – something that the police believe was a sign of the burglar attempting to reprogram the lock.

The second incident took place at the Forest Park Blue Line el station, 711 Desplaines Ave, on June 22 at around 5:22 a.m., the victim drove in and parked her car, a silver 2017 Hyundai Elantra, at the commuter parking lot south of the station. She went to pay for parking, but when she returned to pick up her belongings, she noticed that her work laptop, a silver HP EliteBook, was missing from the back seat. The victim said that, while she usually locks her car when she goes to pay for parking, she didn’t this time.

The third incident took place at 640 Marengo Ave. On June 23 at 9:30 a.m., the resident discovered that someone broke into his car, a silver 2010 Nissan Altima sedan, at some point after 10 p.m. the previous day. The victim said that he leaves his garage door open overnight, and that the car wasn’t locked. The burglar stole some small change and a pair of prescription sunglasses.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, June 20-26, 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 Igor Studenkov

STREET SWEEPER

Researching eco-friendly options

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ahead and approved the 2022 diesel-powered street sweeper. Voogd said that she was still glad that the village took the time to do a search, since it gave Forest Park a better idea of what’s out there.

Elgin Pelican street sweepers are built by Standard Equipment Company of Elmhurst. According to the memo to the board, the current street sweeper has a useful life of 8-10 years. The most recent, February 2022 inspection found $24,000 in repairs it would need to safely operate. While waiting for repairs, its conveyer seized up, requiring, $718 in emergency repairs.

When it was taken offline for repairs in early June, Standard Equipment discovered that the frame was severely rusted and would cost another $25,000 to replace. Welding the frame together would fix the problem, but it would only last until the end of this year. The village agreed to this fix to get the street sweeper back in service as soon as possible.

Voogd has been continuously urging the village to adopt more environmentally friendly practices, including equipment purchases. During the June 13 meeting, she asked the village to give Stella a few more weeks to research for electric street sweepers.

“They’re generally quite expensive and we’re waiting to get information from a couple of companies in the region about cost, and we need to do research about grant opportunities,” she said. “I do believe it’s worth taking a couple of weeks to give this its due diligence and look at the possibility of this alternative option that’s going to [keep] a lot of harmful CO2 emissions from entering the airways.”

At the time, Stella said that he only needed another week.

During the June 27 meeting, Voogd said that, while options were there, the village ultimately couldn’t make the math work.

“For the most part, there isn’t anything locally available for the short term that would fit into our budget and there aren’t, of course, alternative funding options,” she said. “But it was still worth looking into and it gave Director Stella a better idea of what is available.”

Voogd added that she hopes that the newly formed Cross-Community Climate Collaborative, an agreement between nine west suburban villages, including Forest Park, will enable the village to get funding for these kinds of projects in the future.

The new street sweeper will cost Forest Park $259,800, with the village getting $20,000 off for agreeing to trade in the previous street sweeper. The new street sweeper is expected to be built by November 2022.