Four people were arrested in connection with two unrelated vehicle burglaries in south Evanston Thursday and Friday during a time when the crime is occurring more frequently in the city.

Officers found two of those arrested going through items inside a vehicle that had been left unlocked early Thursday morning in the 700 block of Oakton Street. The two men, along with a third standing near the vehicle, fled in different directions at the sight of the officers.

The three men, all Chicago residents between 19 and 20 years old, were caught by police and the officers recovered from them loose change, electronic charging cords and other stolen items. Officers also recovered a debit card stolen during a prior vehicle burglary in the 700 block of Forest Avenue.

The owner of the vehicle told police a spare key she kept in the vehicle had been inserted into the ignition.

In a separate incident early Friday morning, officers arrested a 20-year-old Chicago resident in connection with a vehicle burglary in the alley of the 800 block of Washington Street. After the man fled the scene, officers caught him and recovered items stolen from two different vehicles including another person’s driver’s license and debit card as well as an iPod, keys, sunglasses and diaper bag.

Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said there seems to be a pattern of people searching for unlocked cars from which to steal items as well as extra keys to use to steal the vehicle itself.

“There has definitely been an uptick in vehicle thefts,” Dugan said. “The majority of ours are people leaving either a spare key or a valet in the car … You see a pattern.”

Man arrested in connection with officer assault

A 36-year-old man was charged with aggravated assault Thursday after refusing to cooperate with an officer who was asked to oversee the man’s ex-girlfriend as she removed personal items from the man’s apartment.

The Evanston resident refused to stop yelling in the officer’s face while he was in the resident’s bedroom during a standby, which is when a person asks for police presence while collecting items in fear of a potentially dangerous situation, Dugan said. After the man and his girlfriend broke up, the woman requested an officer present at the apartment Thursday afternoon in the 1900 block of Asbury Avenue while she removed her belongings.

The officer repeatedly pushed the man back to separate them, but the resident continued to approach the officer a couple of inches from his face, Dugan said. After the man’s third refusal to follow the officer’s orders, he was arrested in connection with aggravated assault, he said.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @juliarebeccaj