Bid to Steal Table Plucked From Trash Ends Badly For 2 Joliet Men: Cops

JOLIET, IL — Two men tried to steal a table a couple had pulled from the trash, police said, but one ended up getting clubbed in the head with a hammer and they both went to jail.

The couple, a 21-year-old man and 28-year-old woman, were loading the discarded table into the girlfriend’s car shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday. While they were doing this, Phillip Dewitt, 30, and James Dimock, 20, materialized behind them and asked for a ride, police said.

The couple reportedly refused them. Dimock then tried to pull the table out of the car and Dewitt clubbed the boyfriend in the head with an unknown — but large and hard — object, police said.

The couple was able to drive away, police said, and as they did so, Dimock threw things at their car.

The couple reportedly headed over to Bellarmine Drive and were unloading the table when Dewitt and Dimock again appeared. The boyfriend and girlfriend suspected Dimock was armed with a handgun, police said, since he kept his hand jammed down the front of his pants.

The boyfriend then grabbed two hammers from the car and started swinging, police said. He reportedly connected at least once with Dimock’s head.

When the cops arrived, they found the three men fighting in the street, police said. They arrested Dewitt and Dimock, who was bleeding from his head.

Dimock was taken to Presence St. Joseph Hospital where he got two staples put in his head. He was taken from the hospital to the Will County jail.

While he was being processed at the police station, Dewitt allegedly threw a phone at a sergeant, striking her.

“According to him, he was not given ample time to make a call,” police said.

Dewitt was also taken to the Will County jail.

Phillip Dewitt (left) and James Dimock, images via Will County Sheriff's Department