Oct 22, 2009 5:56 am US/Central
Smokers Help Nab At Least 3 Criminals
Alleged Burglars, Violent Attacker Caught
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
Smokers, oddly enough, were key in nabbing at least three criminals in as many days in the South Loop this week, police said.
At 1 a.m. Monday, a man and woman smoking on a balcony at a residential building in the 1400 block of South Wabash Avenue heard, and apparently saw, someone breaking into a car in their private parking lot, according to Central District police.
The smokers called police, gave a description of the suspect and officers caught the suspect -- who scaled a wall -- after a foot chase, according to police.
During the investigation, police learned the suspect allegedly broke into another vehicle in the same lot. Police found the second victim, who also cooperated with police, and Lorenzo Wright, 44, of 202 N. Central Ave., was charged with two counts of felony burglary, police said.
The next morning, a man smoking outside a fast food restaurant near the intersection of Cermak Road and Wabash Avenue saw a man crawling through the glass door of a restaurant that he knew was closed across the street at 12:53 a.m. Tuesday, according to police.
The smoker called police and responding officers circled the block and caught the suspect -- who had also allegedly broken into a drycleaners on the opposite corner of the same block, according to police.
Andre Griffin, of an unidentified address in Chicago, was also charged with two felony counts of burglary, according to police.
The third unrelated incident involving smokers occurred at 3:20 a.m. Wednesday in the 500 block of West Roosevelt Road.
Derrick King, 47, allegedly approached a 49-year-old woman taking a smoke break from her job at a nearby Walgreens and asked her for a cigarette. When the woman declined, he said, "Remember the couple who got beat up real bad for not giving a cigarette, that was me!" He then charged towards the victim, police said.
The woman was not injured and she flagged down Central District police officers patrolling the area and King was taken into custody without incident, police said.
King -- who was released on parole the day before the early Wednesday attack -- was sentenced to three years in prison for the attack on Aug. 25, 2008 in which he allegedly attacking a man and woman in their 30s, leaving the woman critically injured near a South Loop store.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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