Crime & Safety
Chef Chases and Tackles Burglar in Alley; Bouncer Helps
The tale of a chef, a burglar and a tattoo artist in a Wicker Park alley.
CHICAGO, IL - A local chef and tattoo artist who also serves as a bouncer teamed to capture a suspected car burglar in a Wicker Park alley over the weekend before police arrived.
Chef Don Penza of Kanela Breakfast Club, 1408 N. Milwaukee Ave. told DNAinfo Chicago he was pulling into a parking spot in the alley behind the business around 4 p.m. Sunday when he saw a man “just loitering in the alley.” But the loitering turned into opening the door of one of Penza’s cook’s cars and entering the vehicle.
Penza then walked up to the man, later identified as 21-year-old Armand Jones of the first block of N Mason Ave. in Chicago, and saw him flee.
The chef chased him through the alley, across Milwaukee Ave. and finally took him down in front of the Ragstock clothing store at 1459 N. Milwaukee Ave.
"I had my knee between his shoulders. I was on the phone with the 911 dispatch," Penza said.
Brian Dickie, a manager at nearby Metamorph Tattoo and a part-time bar bouncer, came in to help subdue Jones until police arrived, placing handcuffs he had from work the night before on the suspect.
"I assessed the hell out of the situation before jumping in. I asked [Penza] if it was OK to use my handcuffs, and he said yes, so I put them on [Jones], and then police showed up quickly, in an unmarked car," Dickie said.
When police arrived, Jones was charged with one felony count of burglary and remains jailed on $25,000 bail.
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