Elgin O'Hare motorists assailed by rocks
Ed Garry is cautious about driving along the Elgin O'Hare Expressway after a rock thrown from a nearby sound wall smashed his van's windshield on Saturday.
"I never thought much about it before," the Medinah resident said, "but yeah, I'm a little more leery about it now."
Roselle and Illinois State Police haven't made any arrests in connection with the case that damaged four vehicles driving in the westbound lanes at about 4 p.m. Saturday just west of the Plum Grove Road intersection.
The impact of the rock shattered his windshield and sprayed Garry and his wife with glass shards.
After filing a police report, Garry went back to where he believed the rocks were thrown and found a small encampment with beer cans strewn about and a makeshift staircase built up against the sound wall constructed of cinder blocks.
"You can see over the wall when you're on it and you look right onto the expressway," he said.
He also went back to the expressway and located a 3-inch rock in the road that he believes struck one of the cars.
Officials from both police agencies said they did a search of the area after the first reports of rock-throwing came in but didn't catch anyone in the act. They did arrest a 23-year-old Schaumburg man who was spotted in the area urinating on a utility pole who ran from police when confronted. He was charged with trespassing and disobeying a police officer. He was released on his own recognizance, Roselle Deputy Police Chief Roman Tarchala said.
State police officials said they have no plans to charge the Schaumburg man. Sgt. Kris Melvin said. District 2 troopers took reports on four vehicles being damaged Saturday and assisted Roselle police in their investigation.
The police officials were unaware of the encampment or makeshift staircase.
Garry said he saw two of the other vehicles that were damaged; one of the cars was in front of him on the expressway when it was hit with a rock.
"One's going to need to have its hood repainted and the other had its passenger door damaged," Garry said.
Garry said he just wanted police to continue patrolling the area where he believes the rocks were thrown until someone is caught.
"It could happen again very easily," he said.