Law and Order, Local Police Reports, Park Forest

Police Recover Stolen Vehicle: Reports Through January 15, 2020


Freedom Hall near capacity for Police Honors Ceremony
Freedom Hall was near capacity at the Police Honors Ceremony held on Saturday, February 8, 2020. (Photo: Gary Kopycinski)

Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- These police reports include arrests through January 15, 2020. Charges for those arrested include domestic battery and driving under the influence. Police also recovered a vehicle that had been reported stolen.

Providing more details than readers will find in any other police beat reports, we invite readers to subscribe to get the whole story, every day.

eNews Park Forest has always published addresses of those arrested and will continue to do so. 5 ILCS 140/2.15 states that the governmental body (for these reports, the Police Department), shall release information on those who have been charged, including their name, age, and address. This information is necessary to ensure the proper identity of those arrested.

An arrest does not mean that a person is guilty. All those arrested are presumed innocent until proven guilty. It is the policy of eNews Park Forest to not remove items in the public record from publication. If your name is listed in the police reports, we will only add information relevant to the final disposition of the case at hand, e.g. “Mr. Smith was subsequently acquitted,” “Mr. Smith entered a guilty plea,” or “All charges against Mr. Smith were subsequently dropped.” We will do so upon receiving and verifying proof of such disposition.

Persons wishing to leave anonymous information on any criminal matters including narcotics or gang activity are encouraged to call the Park Forest Police Department Investigations Division at (708) 748-1309.

eNews Park Forest reports this information because the public in the United States has the right to know.  When that information is withheld or under-reported, it leaves questions.  We also want to show the work that the police force does every day that is not reported.  Police in Park Forest respond to thousands of calls per year, the vast majority of which do not end up with arrests.  Whether it’s conducting a routine investigation, pulling over a drunk driver, or responding to a possible theft at a store, the work of the police officer deserves acknowledgment by the public.

Domestic Battery

Nicole M. Blatzer, 37, 306 Shawnee St., Park Forest, was arrested on January 8 and charged with one count of domestic battery and one count of criminal damage to property after police responded to the 300 block of Shawnee Street to investigate a report of a domestic disturbance at 7:10 AM allegedly involving a woman with a knife.

When police arrived, they found a man standing outside the residence with a bloody nose, swelling and redness to his left eye.

Officers attempted to make contact with the woman inside the home, later identified as Nichole M. Blatzer. They knocked on the door of the home and Ms. Blatzer opened the door for officers to enter. Police asked Ms. Blatzer a number of times what happened but she related that nothing happened and she had no idea what was going on or why officers were at the house, according to police.

One officer saw a small black kitchen knife, several bottles of liquor, and a partially burnt cannabis blunt in an ashtray in the kitchen, according to police. In the master bedroom on the floor was a bath towel that appeared to be smeared with blood, according to police.

Ms. Blatzer did not appear to have any injuries or require medical attention, according to police.

Police spoke to the man who told them that Ms. Blatzer had a bad night at work the night before and was in a bad mood, according to police. The two were in the living room and the man said that no matter what he said during the conversation it upset Ms. Blatzer and she allegedly punched him in the face with a closed fist three times, according to police. He then got up in an attempt to leave, putting on his coat, and Ms. Blatzer followed him to the master bedroom and allegedly punched him in the face three more times with a closed fist, according to police. Ms. Blatzer also allegedly had a small kitchen knife and allegedly told him, “I will kill you,” but never approached him with the knife or made contact with any part of his body with the knife, according to police.

During the alleged fight, the man’s glasses were broken in half, according to police.

The Park Forest Fire Department arrived on the scene but the man refused medical attention, according to police.

One of the officers went back inside the residence in a final attempt to gain Ms. Blatzer’s account of what happened and she allegedly stated, “I made a mistake and I was stupid. Whatever the story was is what happened,” according to police.

Police then handcuffed her and transported her to the Park Forest Police Department. At the station, police found records of four incidents, domestics/harassment, from 2019 at that address involving the man and Ms. Blatzer, according to the report.

Police Recover Stolen Vehicle

Eric L. Pettit-Anderson, 30, 8149 S. Evans Ave., Chicago; Willis M. Harris, 31, 5209 S. Prairie Ave. #3, Chicago; and Joseph D. Smith, 29, 399 S. Champlain Ave., Glenwood, were arrested on January 9 and charged with criminal trespass to a motor vehicle. Mr. Pettit-Anderson was additionally charged with one count of resisting a peace officer.

An officer was in the 400 block of Titonka Street in reference to a burglar alarm at 11:02 AM. The officer cleared that call and left the area. While traveling northbound on Indianwood Boulevard from Shabbona Drive, the officer observed a blue Dodge Charger stopped at the stop sign facing West at the intersection of Indianwood Boulevard and Shabbona Drive. The officer conducted a LEADS inquiry on the registration of the Dodge and learned that the vehicle was reported as stolen, according to police.

The officer informed SouthCom Dispatch and turned around attempting to catch up to the vehicle, according to police.

Within approximately two minutes, the officer located the vehicle backing out of a driveway on Nauvoo Street just West of Shabbona Drive. Another vehicle arrived to assist and police curbed the stolen vehicle on Blackhawk Drive, according to police.

Drawing his weapon, one officer ordered all passengers from the vehicle, according to the report.

The driver, later identified as Eric L. Pettit-Anderson, was ordered to his knees, according to police. He allegedly did not comply, according to police, because the report states that a detective gave Mr. Pettit-Anderson another five orders to go to his knees which Mr. Pettit-Anderson allegedly refused, according to police.

An officer then approached Mr. Pettit-Anderson from the side, grabbed his right arm, “and subdued [Mr. Pettit-Anderson] on the ground where he was taken into custody without further resistance,” according to the report.

The passengers were both ordered from the vehicle and taken into custody without incident, according to police.

Mr. Pettit-Anderson allegedly told police that he was borrowing the vehicle from a friend of his named “Josh,” according to police. Police informed him that the vehicle was reported as stolen and Mr. Pettit-Anderson allegedly replied, “I see now,” according to police.

DUI

Marc A. Hudson, 49, 147 Forest Blvd., Park Forest, was arrested on January 15 and charged with driving under the influence and driving with a revoked license when an officer traveling westbound on Westwood Drive from Orchard Drive saw a black sedan driving eastbound on Westwood Drive from Well Street that had only one functioning headlight, according to police.

It was 12:40 AM.

The officer made a U-turn in his patrol vehicle and watched the vehicle continued to travel eastbound on Westwood Drive from Orchard Drive. He observed the vehicle turn southbound onto Park Street from Westwood Drive. The vehicle then allegedly disobeyed a stop sign at Park Street and Norwood Boulevard, according to police.

Eventually, the vehicle turned into a parking lot in the 200 block of Forest Boulevard at which time the officer activated his emergency lighting. The officer approached the vehicle as the driver, later identified as Marc A. Hudson, exited the car and put his hands up in the air, according to police.

The officer told Mr. Hudson to relax and that was not necessary, according to police.

Immediately upon speaking to Mr. Hudson, the officer smelled an alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath, according to police.

The officer asked Mr. Hudson if he had a driver’s license and he allegedly replied that he did not, according to police. When asked if he had been drinking Mr. Hudson allegedly stated, “I ain’t going to lie to you. I had a drink,” according to the report. When asked about his license status, Mr. Hudson said that his license was suspended and that he needed to pay a fine in order to clear that up, according to police.

The officer asked Mr. Hudson for identification. Mr. Hudson opened his wallet and showed the officer his identification card. The officer asked him to remove the card from his wallet. Mr. Hudson allegedly had difficulty removing his ID card from his wallet and subsequently dropped the ID card on the ground, according to police.

SouthCom advised the officer that Mr. Hudson’s driver’s license was revoked, according to the report.

Other officers arrived to assist. One of the other officers continued the DUI investigation after which police placed Mr. Hudson under arrest on suspicion of driving under the influence and driving with a revoked license, according to police.

Mr. Hudson’s vehicle was towed from the scene per village ordinance, according to police.


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