Parolee hit with two felony charges in Brookfield

A Chicago man on parole after serving five years in state prison for a 2017 attempted armed robbery conviction is back behind bars after being charged with two felonies for an incident in Brookfield last week.

Jeremy Koonce, 38, was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated reckless driving, both felonies, after allegedly hitting a woman with his car in the 4100 block of Madison Avenue on Aug. 3 just before 11 p.m. and leaving the scene.

The exact sequence of events is unclear, but police received a 911 call from someone reporting a woman, who had either been hit by a car or fell, lying in the roadway injured.

According to police, the woman had a serious arm injury and was taken to the hospital by paramedics. A short time after responding to that call, police stopped a vehicle driven by Koonce, in the 9000 block of Ogden Avenue, for speeding.

Police learned during their investigation that Koonce was involved in the incident involving the injured woman. The two apparently knew each other, according to police. Koonce appeared in bond court on Aug. 5.

Koonce had been paroled from Pinckneyville Correctional Center last December. At the same time he was convicted of attempted armed robbery with a firearm in 2017, Koonce was also convicted of two counts of possession of a controlled substance.

He was previously convicted of two counts of burglary in 2006, for which he was sentenced to three years in prison.

Brookfield police responded to the 9100 block of 26th Street on Aug. 3 at about 9:15 p.m. after a homeowner called to report that their home had been burglarized within the past hour.

The victim told police she had left the home at about 8:30 p.m. to pick up her husband from work. When the couple arrived home, the front door was ajar and the interior of the home was ransacked.

Police reported observing pry marks on the front door and on the door jamb, which was heavily damaged. According to the victims, multiple pieces of gold jewelry worth thousands of dollars were taken from a bedroom closet.

North Riverside police cited a 25-year-old Cicero man for leaving the scene of a crash after he reportedly fled the 8500 block of Cermak Road where his black Ford Explorer struck a Chevy Malibu on Aug. 5 at about 6:15 p.m.

No one was injured, but both vehicles sustained front-end damage and multiple air bags deployed in the Malibu due to the impact of the crash. The victim told police a black Ford SUV had struck the Chevy, and a license plate police found lying in the street registered to a black Ford Explorer.

Cicero police pulled the Ford over as it pulled up to the address North Riverside police relayed to them. The driver reportedly told police he got scared and fled the scene.

A 44-year-old Brookfield man faces a felony drunken driving charge after allegedly leading police on a high-speed chase through the north end of the village during mid-afternoon on Aug. 3.

An officer on patrol reported observing a silver Pontiac Firebird traveling at 74 mph in a 30-mph zone in the vicinity of Maple and Monroe avenues at about 2:40 p.m. The officer gave chase and the Firebird turned west on Jackson Avenue and then north through the alley between Maple and Arthur avenues, kicking up a dust trail visible to police.

The Firebird’s driver, later identified as James L. Summers, allegedly then blew through four stop signs before trying to make a 180-degree turn while northbound on Cleveland Avenue and striking the curb, with one wheel coming to rest on the parkway.

Paramedics took Summers to the hospital for observation. Police reported that his blood-alcohol content was .261, which is more than three times the legal limit of .08.

Because Summers did not have a valid driver’s license, the Cook County State’s Attorney approved charging him with felony driving under the influence of alcohol. He was also charged with reckless driving, fleeing and eluding and several other traffic offenses.

Brookfield police responded to the 9500 block of 31st Street on the morning of Aug. 3 after a resident called to report that someone had siphoned gas out of his vehicle, which was parked in the alley overnight.

The victim said he observed the gas cap to be open and that about a half tank of gas had been siphoned from the vehicle.

A 31-year-old Bensenville man working as a Lyft driver told police that he didn’t intend on driving fully into Ehlert Park on the evening of Aug. 4 — his GPS app was to blame.

Brookfield police responded to the park at 6:05 p.m. after receiving calls of a black Toyota driving in the grass and almost striking people playing football in the park. When they arrived, police found the Toyota parked in the south lot along Gerritsen Avenue.

The driver, who was apologetic, told police that his Lyft app’s route took him around the park on the sidewalk and that he believed his passenger was somewhere on that route. The driver reportedly showed police screenshots of the route to verify his story.

Police, who said they did not observe any signs of impairment, advised the driver of the dangers of driving in a park and sent him on his way.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, July 31-Aug. 6, 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