Suspect wanted in stolen squad-car heist               
4/18/01
By PAULA WIDHOLM / Staff Writer

A man suspected of abandoning a stolen white Ford pickup on the Edens Expressway
near the Dempster Street exit is being sought for questioning in connection with
last week's theft of a Morton Grove police squad car, police said.

The squad car was stolen while a Morton Grove police officer was chasing the 
man about 1 p.m. Friday, April 18, police said.

The Skokie Police Department asked for help from the Morton Grove Police
Department in finding the driver of the stolen truck. A Morton Grove police
officer spotted a man matching that description walking near Marmora and Cram.
The office parked his squad car, left it running and chased the suspect, police
said.

The man ran behind a house, and the officer followed. By the time the officer
reached the front of the house, his squad car was gone, police said.

''He threw it in park and bailed out," said Morton Grove Cmdr. Garry Marta.
``The suspect got in the squad car and took off.''

The 1997 Ford Crown Victoria squad car was found by the Chicago Police Department
at 5:15 p.m. Friday, April 18, in an alley on Chicago's Southwest Side. The car's
keys were missing, police said.

Marta said a report of the incident was sent over the Illinois State Police
Emergency Radio Network, and an Air One helicopter was sent out by the Illinois
State Police to look for the squad car.

The car was towed to the Morton Grove Police Department and held for examination.

The incident began about 12:45 p.m. Friday, when Skokie police received a report
that a man had stolen a white Ford pickup from the parking lot of Grover Welding
Co., 9120 terminal St., according to Skokie Sgt. Mike Ruth.

A man driving a red pickup, reported stolen in Lincolnwood April 3, dropped off
the man who took the white Ford truck, police said.

When police arrived, both the red and white trucks were heading south on Lockwood
Avenue, turned west onto Dempster Street and then headed south on the Edens
Expressway, police said.

The driver of the white truck drove off the right shoulder onto the embankment
and jumped out of the truck while it was still in drive, ran up the embankment,
hopped over the fence and into the residential area of Morton Grove, police said.
The truck crashed into the fence on the west side of the Edens, police said.

Meanwhile, Skokie police chased the red truck south on the Edens and onto the
westbound Touhy exit ramp, according to reports. On that ramp, the red truck blew
a tire on a curb and continued west on Touhy Avenue, then pulled into the Village
Crossing Shopping Center, police said. The driver jumped out of the red truck and
ran, but was quickly caught by Skokie police, Ruth said.

Terry Bramlett, 35, of Chicago's West side, was charged with criminal trespass to
a motor vehicle and 11 traffic charges including fleeinq and eluding police,
according to reports. He is scheduled to appear in Skokie court May 22, police
said.

Morton Grove police wouldn't release the name of the other man they are seeking.
He is described as an African-American man in his late 20s with short black hair,
wearing a black sweatshirt, dark blue knee-length baggy shorts and black high-top
gym shoes.

The red pickup was stolen from a landscaping company while it was parked on the
6700 block of North LeMay, police said.


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