Police: Arlington Hts. man tried to fight, bite way out of shoplifting arrest

An Arlington Heights man has been charged with retail theft and assault after fighting with and biting a security guard while trying to leave a Buffalo Grove Dominick's with a couple of bottles of liquor Wednesday evening, police said.

Joe Edwards, 44, of the 2200 block of Nichols Road, was charged after police caught him carrying two of the three bottles of liquor he stole from the Dominick's on the 1100 block of West Lake Cook Road at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, said Cmdr. Steve Husak of the Buffalo Grove Police Department.

Husak said police were called by Dominick's employees after Edwards tried to slip out of the store with two bottles of tequila and a bottle of vodka under his coat.

A security guard stopped Edwards at the door, Husak said, and a fight ensued. During the scuffle, Edwards bit the security guard, and dropped one of the bottles of tequila, breaking it.

Edwards fled the store and ran across Arlington Heights and Lake-Cook roads to another strip mall, where he got into a car with three other people, police said.

Police arrived at the scene and, with the help of a witness, found the vehicle Edwards climbed into, Husak said.

The car was stopped in the strip mall parking lot, and Edwards was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery and theft, Husak said.

Steven Simmons, 35, of the 4000 block of Bonhill Road in Arlington Heights, also was arrested during the incident on an outstanding warrant out of Kane County.

The remaining people in the car were released from the scene because it was determined they had nothing to do with the incident.