Driver's stop costs Evergreen Park police a new squad car 

Future squad car swapped for old Honda Accord by thief

Wednesday, March 21, 2001
By Stephanie Gehring
Staff Writer - IL

A man who stopped to ask for directions Tuesday morning might 
think twice next time about admitting he is lost.

The man was part of a team of six drivers who were transporting 
six new 2001 Ford Crown Victorias to the Evergreen Park Police 
Department from an auto dealership in Springfield.

Hickory Hills police detective Mark Zvokel said the driver got 
lost, so he stopped at a gas station in Hickory Hills to ask
for directions to the Evergreen Park police station, police said.

The man left the new Ford running and unlocked while he went inside 
the gas station about 11 a.m. for directions, police said.

When he returned to the spot where he had left the new car he got a
surprise. Instead of finding the 2001 Ford, he found a 1989 Honda Accord.

The Honda's motor was running, but no one was inside, police said. 
Police said the Honda had been reported stolen from Chicago 
Heights about 1¼ hours earlier.

Police said witnesses had seen a man sitting in the Honda in 
the gas station parking lot when the driver of the new Ford 
pulled up.

When the driver of the Ford got out of his car and went inside, 
the car thief seized his opportunity for an upgrade and stole
the Ford, police said.

Evergreen Park Police Chief Michael Saunders said the six cars 
being delivered Tuesday were not equipped with decals or lights.
 Those modifications were going to be made once the cars arrived
at the Evergreen Park police station, he said.

Saunders said he had been waiting about six weeks for the cars to 
arrive and was ready to take delivery of all of them Tuesday morning.

But only five of the cars showed up.

"They told me the other guy got lost," Saunders said.

But then Saunders got a call from Hickory Hills Director of Public 
Safety George Dulzo and learned what really happened.

"(Dulzo) said, `Are you having a good day, Mike?' and I told him I
was having a great day," Saunders said. "He said he was going to 
change that."

Then Dulzo broke the news, Saunders said.

Saunders said he was pleased that the car was stolen before 
Evergreen Park police took ownership of it and not afterward.

He said he was also glad the car that was stolen was not going to 
be turned into a marked squad car. Instead, the light brown car 
was going to replace the car now driven by Evergreen Park Deputy 
Police Chief Ken Klomhaus.

Marked squad cars are on a tight rotation within the department's
fleet, and had a marked car been stolen the department would
have had to keep using a car that normally would have been 
retired, he said.

Saunders said he did not know how long the department would have 
to wait for a replacement.

But Klomhaus did not seem to mind. In fact, he said the auto theft 
has a bright side.

"Now I get to pick out the color of the replacement," Klomhaus said.


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