Vandals take out holiday display

As a no-holds-barred holiday decorator whose house has taken first prize in prior local contests, Phillip O'Brill is no stranger to pranksters making light of his display.

But this year, vandals took things frighteningly further, turning his Christmas concoction to chaos and sending him to the hospital overnight.

O'Brill says a group of boys destroyed hundreds of dollars worth of decor in his decked-out Hoffman Estates front yard late Friday -- tearing up faux Christmas trees, ripping through electrical cords and smashing a goose statuette into pieces.

When a sleepy O'Brill ran out to stop them, the group -- caught holding chunks of what was a manger scene -- got into cars and left, he said, dragging him along as he clung to one of the vehicles.

O'Brill's dad, Tom, said his son spent hours at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, being treated for injuries to his run-over foot.

Police said they are classifying it as a battery. The vandals haven't been caught.

"It was vicious," Phillip O'Brill -- now on crutches -- said of it all. "Just vicious."

In the past, he said, pranksters have rearranged front-yard figurines into compromising positions, but he estimates Friday's attack ruined about $1,000 worth of holiday decor.

The decorating project had taken days to pull off, he said. Like a dedicated Clark Griswold, he'd worked steadfastly on it all last weekend and every night last week, finally finishing Thursday evening.

Now ,"It's just a mess," said his dad, Tom O'Brill of Mount Prospect. "It's one of those things that gets you really aggravated. It scares you."

It was about 11 p.m. Friday when O'Brill says he and his wife heard a commotion outside and spotted the vandals. He said he saw seven or eight males.

The group was driving a red four-door Hyundai, according to O'Brill's accounts, and a two-tone Chevrolet van. He didn't see the plates.

O'Brill said he got in front of the Hyundai as the group left, figuring the driver would stop. But "he just took off," O'Brill said Saturday. "And when your adrenaline's going, you hold on. I held on."

He said he was dragged "a couple house lengths." O'Brill said intends to press charges if the boys ever are caught.

For now, "I'm going to rebuild" it all, he said. "They're not going to beat me."

His yuletide-themed home has won honors in a neighborhood holiday decorating contest, O'Brill said. It's also been nominated for the Hoffman Estates contest.

Saturday, a sign out front let passers-by know the lights were off because of vandals.