Crime & Safety
Cookie Monster - Unlicensed Cookie Salesman Injured Cop: Police
The cop was injured during a struggle at the end of a wild chase through the Orland Park Place mall, police said.
But in the end, after 19-year-old Donald Gaston had been captured, he inquired about the officer who got hurt while grappling with him and conceded, “My bad,” according to a police report.
A mall maintenance worker called the cops on the Chicago teen and another young man and complained about them selling cookies in the shopping plaza’s atrium the afternoon of Jan. 30.
An officer sent to the mall “immediately recognized” Gaston as she “had numerous prior contacts with Donald for unlawfully soliciting by selling candy and cookies in different plazas in Orland Park,” police said.
The officer also knew “Donald had been banned from Orland Park Place mall property for life following an incident where he was issued a citation for soliciting without a permit,” police said.
When he caught sight of the cops, Gaston strolled off toward an escalator, police said, and when officers ordered him to stop, he ran into DSW shoe store.
“As he was running through the store, Donald threw the bags of cookies he had been selling,” police said.
Gaston reportedly ran back down the escalator and made for a door leading out of the mall but an officer blocked the way.
“Donald slowed down slightly when he saw me, but then continued to run full force toward the doors I was standing in front of,” an officer wrote in a report. “The doors hit me and pushed me aside as Donald continued running (south) on the sidewalk.”
A passerby reportedly kicked Gaston in the leg, but the fugitive sweet-seller kept on running.
He made it to Kohl’s, where he and an officer grappled and fell to the ground, police said. The officer’s head reportedly banged against the floor and he later complained of dizziness.
The officer, who also suffered a cut to his hand, was treated at Palos Primary Care.
Gaston was arrested and charged with aggravated battery to a police officer, resisting a peace officer and trespassing.
The other cookie-seller got away.
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