Alleged bank robber tried to escape in river
by BRIAN NADIG
A suspected bank robber was arrested at about 5:15 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 14, after he reportedly tried to escape police by wading through the North Branch of the Chicago River near Touhy Avenue.
The robbery was discussed at the Dec. 14 meeting of the 16th (Jefferson Park) Police District Advisory Committee. At about 4:55 p.m. that day the man allegedly handed a teller at Bank of America, 6665 N. Northwest Hwy., a note demanding money, and the teller placed a tracking device with the money that the man took, according to police. The FBI then informed Chicago police of the whereabouts of the suspect’s vehicle, and officers began pursuing it.
District commander William Looney reported that the suspect apparently realized that he was not going to make it across the river and returned to the embankment, where officers arrested him. The man had earlier crashed his vehicle near the embankment as he was trying to elude police. Officers discovered bundles of cash and the tracking device from the bank inside his vehicle, police said.
The suspect was identified by police as Daniel Torres, age 30, of the 1800 block of West Clarence Avenue, Berwyn.
The meeting also included a presentation honoring officers who arrested two men in an incident involving the theft of a car.
Meanwhile, the committee honored officers Angelina Smith, Michael Vasquez, Daniel Lojewski, Amelia Kessem and Humberto Candelario for their Oct. 22 arrest of two suspects in connection with the theft of a parked car with small children inside it with its engine running in the 5400 block of North Lovejoy Avenue. A man had alerted police to two speeding vehicles in the area, later leading to the arrests.
One of the suspects was arrested inside his mother’s home in Jefferson Park, police said. A resident found the children in their father’s car, which one of the suspects had abandoned in the 5500 block of North Central Avenue, and the man stayed with the children until police arrived. The father was delivering newspapers at the time of the theft.
It also was reported that the foot patrol officer assigned to the Belmont-Central shopping district also would be patrolling the Six Corners business district, and that the Jefferson Park foot patrol officer also would be patrolling the Gladstone Park commercial corridor.
