Police Blotter: Off-Duty Firefighter Spots Drunken Driver; Elderly Woman Robbed

THURSDAY, FEB. 2

Off-Duty Firefighter Helps Catch Drunken Driver

Faith N. Aherns, 29, of the 14500 block of Club Circle Drive in Oak Forest, was charged with driving under the influence and improper lane usage. Police said they stopped Aherns’ car at 147th Street and Central Avenue around 9:15 p.m. after an off-duty firefighter for Posen reported seeing it drift between lanes. Though she refused a Breathalyzer test, she was arrested after failing field sobriety tests, police said.

Resisting Arrests

Joseph C. Porter, 22, of the 0-100 block of 65th Street in Westmont, was charged with obstructing justice and processed on two warrants for resisting a peace officer. Police said they were flagged down at 159th Street and Laramie Road around 4:30 pm. about a suspicious man later identified as Porter who was wandering the neighborhood. Porter refused to stop walking for questioning and then struggled to be handcuffed, according to the report.

An Oak Forest man who was with Porter at the time was released without charges.

Elderly Woman Robbed ... Politely

Between $700 and $800 cash was reported stolen by an 83-year-old woman in the 17200 block of George Brennan Highway, in a burglary resembling what police sometimes call a "gypsy ruse."

She told police a heavyset Hispanic man, about 55 years old, came to her door around 3 p.m. asking to repair a broken pipe. The woman said the man put an arm around her as he walked her to her kitchen and began pointed out various objects in the yard. Twice during his visit, she said, he made a phone call—once to say he had arrived in the home and then to say he was leaving. On the way, she noted, he tried giving her a hug.

Police said it was later she found her bedroom drawers had been rifled through.

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