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POLICE BLOTTER: Disturbance at Sward School, Metra Station Fracas

Oak Lawn police reports, Nov. 13.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Dad Upset with School Staff

A disturbance at an Oak Lawn elementary school brought in police when a parent became upset with school staff. Administrators told police the parent came to drop off his child at Sward Elementary School at 9830 S. Brandt Ave., around 11:15 a.m.

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Because the child was late for school, the dad was asked to sign a tardy form. He began yelling at staff that he didn’t have to do anything in life except die, alarming school administrators. Police said the dad yelled out “nobody had better touch his child or try to remove his child from class or he would “sue everybody in the school.” Because of the man’s accent, some staff thought he said that he’d “shoot everyone in the school.”

Administrators told police there has been a history of tension with the parent because of past heated phone conversations about district residency requirements, the report said. Police spoke with the mother of the child, who stated her husband would never make such threats and that she wanted her child removed from the school.

Officers were able to clarify what the father actually said to school staff when they reached him by phone. Police advised him that was not to return to school property until school administrators granted him permission. An extra patrol will be placed at the school during the times that students are dropped off and picked up. The school did not wish to press charges against the parent.

Metra Shoving Match Results in Citation

Two women got into a heated argument at the Oak Lawn Metra Station stemming from a road rage incident in the public parking garage at 5115 W. Museum Drive. Police responded to an emergency call box alarm inside the parking garage around 8:06 a.m. One of the alleged combatants told police she was driving through the parking garage on the upper floors when the other woman started yelling at her. The driver rolled down her car window when the other woman called her a derogatory name, reports said. She got out of her car and both women were soon in each other’s faces. The driver said she twice used her hands to push the woman away when the woman began calling her racial slurs.

After she parked her car and then met up with the woman again outside of the train station. The driver handed the woman her driver’s license and told her to call police.

Police spoke with other alleged combatant, who said she was walking through the parking garage when she was almost hit by a small red car. She yelled “slow down,” and the driver stopped the car and got out to confront her. The woman said the driver approached her and “got up in her face.” After calling the driver a derogatory name, the driver pushed her backwards. When she would not back down, the driver shoved her a second time. The woman went to a nearby stairwell and pressed the emergency call button.

The woman continued on to the train station where the driver confronted her a second time and told her to call police. Police said the woman was not injured and agreed to the driver being issued a village citation for battery. The driver is to appear at village hall for a hearing on Dec. 4.

STM November 16, 2012 at 11:33 am
Sounds like the parent is a foreigner.
OakLawnGuy November 16, 2012 at 11:39 am
Road rage in varying degrees is pretty common in and around the Metra lot. The traffic routes are bad enough but it's exacerbated by the commuters who absolutely have to be the first in or out of that garage.
Octodad November 16, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Lorraine, is it oak lawn patriot station or some other nonsense?
Octodad November 16, 2012 at 12:29 pm
OLG, you're right. Plus the goofs who ignore the stop signs or go the wrong way. It'll get better with the senior center...,haha
Octodad November 16, 2012 at 12:30 pm
Guaranteed the driver headed east when she went home
Julie November 16, 2012 at 01:27 pm
I've actually talked to the OL police about being in the garage for that 8:12 am train. People get there late and speed through there. Someone is going to get hurt...or worse. It's like the Indy 500 - stop spending $$ on the NYC 'memorial and spend it on public safety
James Longstreet November 16, 2012 at 03:37 pm
What kind of accent did the guy have? Be interesting to know I would think.
Riley November 16, 2012 at 03:53 pm
The people on this site literally make me sick to my stomach. This is what is wrong with this world. Being racist is not a natural behavior, it is LEARNED. The guy had an accent which made people not able to understand him clearly--where he is from has nothing to do with the incident. And so what is one of the drivers are a different race...race has nothing to do with being an ass. I'm just saying... You people should be ashamed of yourselves for your words. You're probably the same people who are raising children right now and I bet your children are going to be racist just like you! What a shame. This is coming from a WHITE lady, just so you know; since race is so important to you people!
Riley November 16, 2012 at 03:53 pm
I agree. That parking station is a mad house. I have been afraid of walking through there because people whip in and out!
Lorraine Swanson (Editor) November 16, 2012 at 04:43 pm
Both of the parties involved in the Metra incident are from Oak Lawn.
James Longstreet November 16, 2012 at 04:44 pm
Come on now Riley...Watch the news on TV when thery talk about some poor black kid that gets murdered because he/she was in the wrog place at the wrong time. Look at the neighborhood where they lived. How many people out here in the burbs use to live there decades ago and remember the neighborhoods the way they were then. A lot! Have a Happy Thanksgiving Riley!
Riley November 16, 2012 at 04:55 pm
Not every African American sells drugs, is in a gang and does bad things. You're lumping some select few bad apples and generalizing an area. That, my friend, is racism. Happy thanksgiving to you as well.
James Longstreet November 16, 2012 at 06:02 pm
I am fully aware of that Riley. I taught in Chicago for 35 years and have seen things that no one here in the burbs would believe. I had MANY good students in class over the years. But like you said therecwere the usual bad apples. I remember one time I took a class downtown to the Goodman Theatre on a Saturday. When I got to the school that morning one of the fathers said for me to park in front of his house which was acrooss the street from the school. He told me NO ONE would bother my car while it was parked there. Turns out he was a gang leader over there in Woodlawn. When I got back and was ready to get in my car he invited me up on his porch to have a beer. He was, in the view of the police, a bad apple.but he and I got along just fine. And then there was the time I was in the parking lot of the K-Mart @ 111th and Cicero years ago and a black family left a youg girl in the car next to me. I had to roll up the window be cause all she was saying was "I hate white people!" So you see it works both ways when it comes to racism. Again, Happy Thanksgiving!
Borninol November 16, 2012 at 08:19 pm
The staff at sward should of grabbed this guy, sit him down and made him write 1000 times"I will bring my child to school on time.". What a frigging idiot!!
COSMO November 16, 2012 at 10:37 pm
bet anything riley never was forced out of a once great neighborhood . the only people who think like riley have lived in the white suburbs their whole life . she will learn the hard way , and eventually change her opinion .
Riley November 16, 2012 at 10:50 pm
Sorry Cosmo, but your assumptions are incorrect. Been in my share of bad neighborhoods, had some run ins with some bad people. I however have refused to be jaded by my experiences. As a dispatcher for a police station you help everyone, regardless of race, regardless of past experiences because that's what we should do. If you had a bad experience with a person and judge other people of the same color based on your past experiences I feel sorry for you. Everyone can be evil and for you to think negatively and use stereotypes is wrong.
U.N. Owen November 17, 2012 at 06:09 am
probably, since they didn't mention any names or an address, be nice to know who this crazy @$$ is so I can keep my kids away from his and him
U.N. Owen November 17, 2012 at 06:11 am
you're missing the point here, this @$$ hole started a verbal confrontation on some innocent school secretaries for no reason!! Should ship him back to whatever country he came from on the raft he floated in on...
MM November 17, 2012 at 12:36 pm
That would have been great except for the fact that they would have been sued faster than you can blink because they 'assaulted' him. So, good thing they called the police instead. Makes you wonder if that was what was on his agenda..go start a fight and see if anyone touches me, cause i need the money.
I do feel sorry for that child. Maybe he needs new parents.
Al November 17, 2012 at 12:37 pm
Have people not read your article properly? "the guy", "ship him".... it was 2 women and the one who pressed the police call button truly had a look of fright on her face that morning. The place is a zoo in the am and pm; many of times I have almost been hit backing my car into a spot.
J November 18, 2012 at 02:55 pm
Yeah, OL is going to hell in a hand basket.
Should have taken Judge Judy's advice - you.never get out of the car. If you do, you are automatically the aggressor. And in the wrong

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