Man arrested after locking police out of apartment

A 30-year-old man was arrested early Friday morning in connection with obstructing justice and violating a restraining order after taking several measures to keep police out of his apartment in south Evanston.

Police were called to a residence in the 800 block of Hinman Avenue at about 3 a.m. when neighbors reported a man and woman arguing loudly from their apartment, said Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan. There was no response when the officer initially knocked on the door, he said. Officers tried to force entry after they heard a muffled scream and an object crashing to the floor, but someone had blocked the door.

Additional officers were called and used breaching tools to open the door, and they found a man standing in the apartment holding a glass bottle by its neck, Dugan said. Officers convinced the man to release the bottle and then attempted to arrest him, but the man pulled his hands away to resist arrest, he said.

The man was eventually charged with five misdemeanors: aggravated assault, obstructing justice, two counts of resisting arrest as well as one for violating a restraining order filed by the woman with him in the apartment.

Two Jewel Osco thefts within two days

Two separate thefts, one of cans of baby formula and the other bottles of whisky, occurred Friday and Saturday nights at Jewel Osco in south Evanston.

Employees of the grocery store, 1128 Chicago Ave., reported to police on Saturday at about 9 a.m. that a man, who appeared to be between 35 and 45 years old, had stolen five bottles of whiskey from the store the previous night, Dugan said. Security cameras captured the man removing a backpack from an office in the store before filling it with the bottles of Crown Royal whiskey worth a total of $175.

Saturday evening at about 8 p.m., employees also reported that a man had left the store without paying for between six and eight cans of baby formula, each worth $25, Dugan said. After employees approached the man, who employees said was wearing a green shirt and a beige hat, he told them they were “harassing” him, he said. The man then left the store walking southbound through the parking lot.

Police do not believe the incidents were connected, Dugan added.

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