BURGLARIES, ACCIDENTS, VANDALISM

A mixture of crimes, accidents and fire calls kept La Grange and La Grange Park police and firefighters busy this past week or so.


A resident in the 500 block of South Madison Avenue awoke shortly after 8 a.m. Aug. 26 to discover someone broke into their locked car overnight and stole a purse. The resident said she heard the car alarm go off sometime during the night and turned it off with her electronic key ring from inside the house.

Someone rifled through a La Grange woman's Honda in the 200 block of North Catherine Avenue in the overnight hours of Aug. 22 and 23, it was reported at 11:18 a.m. Aug. 23. Nothing was reported missing.

A brick was thrown at a vehicle belonging to a 60-year-old woman in the 900 block of South 7th Avenue shortly before 3 p.m. Aug. 22.

Someone attempted to break into a house in the first block of Dover Avenue, it was reported at 11:15 a.m. Aug. 23. No entry was gained.

A man from unincorporated La Grange Highlands came to the La Grange Police Department at 2:45 p.m. Aug. 25 to report his 16-year-old son is a runaway and often frequents the village's downtown business district. Police took his information in case the boy is found.

Sarah Welge, 21, of 938 S. Spring Ave., told police she struck her wheelchair-bound brother, Jason Welge, 24, while backing up a vehicle at home at about 6 p.m. Aug. 25. The brother, who told police he could not feel anything, was transported to Adventist Hinsdale Hospital for observation. No tickets were issued.


Graffiti was discovered by the main entrance to the Cossitt Elementary School playground, 115 W. Cossitt Ave., shortly before 8 a.m. Aug. 24.

A substance believed to be pizza was found smeared all over an elevator control panel and the back wall of the elevator inside the downtown parking garage, 80 S. 6th Ave. The vandalism, which caused no permanent damage, was discovered shortly before 3:15 a.m. Aug. 23.


Something fishy
A 42-year-old resident of the 5000 block of South Brainard Avenue told police someone stuck a dead fish wrapped in a brown paper bag between his front and screen doors sometime between 7 a.m. Aug. 23 and 10:30 a.m, Aug. 24. The man said he suspected his ex-wife's husband, although no arrests were made.

Flower fire?
Yes, indeed. A fire was discovered in a flower box on the southwest corner of a building at Brewster Avenue and La Grange Road in neighboring La Grange Park shortly after 8 a.m. Aug. 23. aGrange firefighters who responded to the call said papers were on fire in the planter and were quickly extinguished.

La Grange Park

A 2003 Buick Century belonging to an 80-year-old woman in the 1000 block of Barnsdale Road was stolen from her apartment parking lot, it was reported at 12:30 p.m. Aug. 14. Police said the woman's occasional live-in 20-year-old nephew was suspected of taking the car without permission using an extra set of keys. The vehicle was located in Maywood at 12:50 a.m. Aug. 15.