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chicago police on Tuesday said they were searching for a drug suspect who escaped arrest when a group of men threatened to harm the officer taking him into custody on the city’s West Side.
No injuries were reported during or after the attempted arrest at a traffic stop Sunday in the 4700 block of West Gladys Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
Police said two officers observed a drug transaction involving a man inside a vehicle around 2:10 p.m. and tried to arrest the suspect at the scene. During the arrest, a bundle of suspected drugs wound up underneath a police vehicle, authorities said.
As one officer worked to control a gathering crowd and pursue another man who fled with the drug bundle, his partner was surrounded by a group of people, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
The group “implied that they had weapons” and threatened the lone officer, though no one in the group displayed a weapon, Guglielmi said. For his personal safety, the officer backed away, and someone in the group grabbed the suspect and fled, Guglielmi said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, he backs away from the arrestee. An individual comes and grabs the arrestee and another individual comes and grabs the narcotics,” he said.
Guglielmi said the officer’s statement didn’t indicate how many people were in the group but did confirm a gunshot was fired a short distance away from the arrest, possibly as a distraction or intimidation tactic.
A radio transmission of the incident broadcasts an officer saying 10 people surrounded him and that someone else said he had a weapon, pulled the suspect away, and “indicated that he would use a firearm against me.”
Officers responding to the scene chased four men about a half block from the scene and took them into custody, but all were later released without charges. None of the men was the drug suspect, who is known to police, and was named in an investigative alert for his arrest, Guglielmi said
This incident comes amid continued attempts by police brass to improve strained community relations following the Laquan McDonald case and long patterns of gang, drugs and increasing poverty plaguing some West Side communities like West Garfield Park.
Guglielmi, the chief spokesman for Superintendent Eddie Johnson, said he supported the officer’s response to a situation that could have put lives at risk.
“It was a situation where (the officer) didn’t want to escalate what could have been a very volatile situation with a group of people.”
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No injuries were reported during or after the attempted arrest at a traffic stop Sunday in the 4700 block of West Gladys Avenue in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
Police said two officers observed a drug transaction involving a man inside a vehicle around 2:10 p.m. and tried to arrest the suspect at the scene. During the arrest, a bundle of suspected drugs wound up underneath a police vehicle, authorities said.
As one officer worked to control a gathering crowd and pursue another man who fled with the drug bundle, his partner was surrounded by a group of people, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
The group “implied that they had weapons” and threatened the lone officer, though no one in the group displayed a weapon, Guglielmi said. For his personal safety, the officer backed away, and someone in the group grabbed the suspect and fled, Guglielmi said.
“Out of an abundance of caution, he backs away from the arrestee. An individual comes and grabs the arrestee and another individual comes and grabs the narcotics,” he said.
Guglielmi said the officer’s statement didn’t indicate how many people were in the group but did confirm a gunshot was fired a short distance away from the arrest, possibly as a distraction or intimidation tactic.
A radio transmission of the incident broadcasts an officer saying 10 people surrounded him and that someone else said he had a weapon, pulled the suspect away, and “indicated that he would use a firearm against me.”
Officers responding to the scene chased four men about a half block from the scene and took them into custody, but all were later released without charges. None of the men was the drug suspect, who is known to police, and was named in an investigative alert for his arrest, Guglielmi said
This incident comes amid continued attempts by police brass to improve strained community relations following the Laquan McDonald case and long patterns of gang, drugs and increasing poverty plaguing some West Side communities like West Garfield Park.
Guglielmi, the chief spokesman for Superintendent Eddie Johnson, said he supported the officer’s response to a situation that could have put lives at risk.
“It was a situation where (the officer) didn’t want to escalate what could have been a very volatile situation with a group of people.”
Chicago Tribune - We are currently unavailable in your region