The Weirdest Crimes of 2011 Part I

Local police departments provided the following reports. In all incidents where an arrest occurred, a charge is merely an accusation and not evidence of guilt.

OMG PD started halfway through 2011, yet the area’s criminals provided us with plenty of fodder for a Best of 2011 list. In fact, we’ve got so many bizarre crimes to recall that we’ve broken it into two parts. Stay tuned next Saturday for the second half of the list.

Chivalry isn't dead, just violent

A Mount Prospect man allegedly punched another man who was making derogatory remarks about the first man's wife, police said.

All this happened at a Niles wedding reception. Ah, love.

A Chicago man was charged with driving 71 mph in a 35 mph zone in Niles. The driver told police he just had his car washed and wanted to dry it.

A 42-year-old Chicago woman who was attending Deerfield High School’s 30th reunion at the Embassy Suites in Deerfield apparently passed out on a couch in the hotel’s lobby from 2-4 a.m. She woke up to discover that she’d been robbed of several items, including an iPhone 4, $100 and a debit card.

Two port-o-potties were set afire in Wilmette’s Langdon Park. 

A 34-year-old Maywood woman gave police a bogus name during questioning after a traffic stop in River Forest. The ruse was foiled when she inadvertently said her real name while calling to tell her doctor’s office that she would be late for an appointment.

Skokie police observed a car with a broken rear taillight crossing the yellow traffic line and nearly striking a median. When police pulled over the driver and asked him how much alcohol he had consumed, he allegedly said: “I haven’t had anything to drink tonight, but I’m high.”

A Skokie man came home after he did some shopping and saw two strangers rummaging through his belongings. When the burglars saw the homeowner, one of them immediately apologized. “I’m sorry I’m in your home,” the culprit said, according to police. The homeowner had less friendly things to say and the culprits fled.

Two business owners came into the Skokie police station to report more than 100 harassing phone calls they had received from a man allegedly named Anthony Hopkins.

A customer was waiting in line at a Skokie gas station when an unknown person struck him from behind. The suspect then beat the victim with an orange plastic caution cone, took the victim’s cell phone and fled the scene.