Law and Order, Local Police Reports, Park Forest

Locked Car Broken Into, Gear Shift Ripped Out


car break-ins, burglary
(Credit: Pete)

Park Forest, IL-(ENEWSPF)- A locked car parked on the south end of town was broken into late last week. In addition to a broken window to gain access, the vehicle’s ignition switch was punched out, and the gear shift was broken off the vehicle.

An officer responded to South Arbor Trail on July 29 at 930 one a.m. to investigate a report of criminal damage to a vehicle and burglary to a motor vehicle. The officer had already been by earlier that morning to take a report on another car that had been broken into.

The owner said he had parked his car in the lot south of his address around 7:30 PM. This morning, he came to his car at 4:35 AM and discovered that the rear passenger side window was broken, the ignition switch was punched out, and his phone charger was missing from the vehicle.

The man told police he did lock the doors to his vehicle and still had the keys, according to police.

The officer saw the damage to the rear passenger-side window and the ignition switch, which was broken out to the point that it was impossible to start the car. In addition to the broken rear passenger-side window, the officer saw that the gear shift was broken off the vehicle.

The officer took pictures of the damage and downloaded them at the Park Forest Police Department. Another responding officer collected the gear shift, and police swabbed that for DNA. The gear shift DNA swab was sent to the Illinois State Police Crime Lab for analysis and comparison.


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