Man Punches La Grange Restaurant Worker: Cops

LA GRANGE, IL – A Chicago man punched a restaurant employee last month after the worker offered him food, police said.

The 42-year-old man was arrested twice last month in La Grange. Patch obtained the police reports through a public records request.

About 5 p.m. July 11, an employee at Nonna's Goodlife Pizza, 42 S. La Grange Road, saw a man walking back and forth bothering people outside the restaurant, police said.

The worker told police that he went outside and asked the man, "Would you like some food?"

The man turned and punched the employee in the face, which was captured on two cameras, police said.

Employees inside the restaurant were ready if the man entered. One worker told police he grabbed a children's high chair to defend himself. Another armed himself with a broom.

Officers caught the man moments later walking away from the business. He did not answer questions.

Ten days later, the man was sitting in the back patio of a house on South Edgewood Avenue. It was 3:30 a.m.

The resident said he woke up because his dog heard something, the report said. He saw the 42-year-old eating a sandwich, with candles lit and the grill on.

The resident turned on his back patio lights and called the police. He held his handgun, ready to shoot if the man entered, police said.

Police found the man in some bushes in the unlighted side yard. An officer held his gun in the "low ready" position at the man and yelled, "Show me your hands!" according to the report.

The man surrendered. In an interview, the man said he was trying to clean up trash to make money to buy a beer and a cigar, police said.

The man said he believed he was in the backyard for 15 minutes, though police viewed surveillance footage showing he was there for at least an hour and a half, police said. He said he was sitting down to try to sleep.

The man was charged with trespassing.

At the man's request, he was taken by police to the Marriott hotel in Oak Brook, according to the report.