The residents of the street immediately west of Stevenson High School are picking up pieces of their mailboxes after, police said, an Antioch man damaged dozens of them with his car.
Several of the neighbors who live on Apple Hill Lane, between Route 22 and Port Clinton Road, said they awoke Sunday morning to discover that a vehicle had run over about a dozen of their mailboxes. Lincolnshire police arrested a suspect — a 21-year-old Antioch man — earlier that morning, according to Sgt. Kim Covelli.
“Everybody is pretty shook up about this,” said Carl Heyden, who lives along Apple Hill Lane. “The majority of the homeowners in our area are senior citizens.”
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Heyden has security cameras around his property, including one focused on his mailbox. A recording at 2:34 a.m. Sunday, shows a vehicle driving near his property and then destroying Heyden’s mailbox immediately afterward, he said.
“A cloud of dust, and all the pieces go flying over the road,” Heyden explained while watching the video. “And we don’t have the standard four-inch post. We’ve got the big one, the six-inch post.”
Soon after that moment at 2:41 a.m., a Lincolnshire police officer spotted a “heavily damaged vehicle” ignoring the streetlight at the intersection of Milwaukee Avenue and Marriott Drive, Covelli said. Police said the driver fled east on Marriott Drive for about a quarter of a mile, near where the street dead ends, stopped and then ran away on foot.
Police later apprehended the suspect, Covelli said.
While authorities continue to investigate the mailbox destruction, the Antioch man faces charges in Lincolnshire of eluding a peace officer, disobeying a police officer, driving without a license or insurance, disobeying a traffic control signal, failing to yield at an intersection, driving on the wrong side of the road, failing to signal, driving with one headlight and improper lane use.
Part of Apple Hill Lane stretches through unincorporated Lake County. Covelli said the driver only damaged mailboxes in Apple Hill’s Lake County portion — which is why the man does not face property damage charges from Lincolnshire.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office is considering its own charges, said Det. Chris Covelli. Buffalo Grove police also are considering charges for damages to mailboxes that are located within their territory, said research and engagement officer Meghan Hansen.
“There were pieces of the vehicle that were located in the area of some of the mailboxes,” Chris Covelli said.
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