Man Arrested In 2017 Six Flags Attack Faces Armed Robbery Charge

WAUKEGAN, IL — Police said two men and a boy recently arrested in Waukegan robbed several pedestrians at gunpoint in recent weeks, including two on Thanksgiving Day. One of the two adults now facing armed robbery charges was accused beating a family at Six Flags Great America in 2017 before charges were dropped a year later. The second man has previous convictions for guns, robbery, narcotics and attempting to shoot someone, records show.

The latest arrests were made Wednesday after police got two reports of a group of people in a minivan robbing people as they walked down the street, according to Waukegan police. In the first incident, a person walking in the 1100 block of Westmoreland Avenue told police the minivan pulled up next to him around 5:40 p.m. and someone pulled out what looked like a shotgun and demanded cash and his property. About 30 minutes later, police reported getting another call of a robbery involving a Honda minivan, this time in the first block of Pioneer Road. Another pedestrian told police several people jumped out of the van, pointed what appeared to be a shotgun at him and demanded money and property before fleeing the scene.

At about 9:45 p.m., an officer on patrol reported noticing a minivan matching the description of the robbers' vehicle driving recklessly in the 100 block of North Butrick Street with multiple people inside. The officer found a rifle in the van and police brought everyone inside to the station for questioning, according to a statement from Waukegan police.

Donald Palmer, 44, of North Chicago, was identified as the driver of the minivan, police said. He was charged with three counts of armed robbery, two counts of being an armed habitual criminal, illegal possession of a firearm by a felon and battery, according to court records. He was also charged with driving with a suspended license and issued an operating an uninsured motor vehicle citation. Police said charges in the second Dec. 11 incident are pending further investigation.

In Lake County, where he remains jailed in lieu of the $50,000 cash portion of his bond ahead of his next court appearance Jan. 8, Palmer has been convicted of battery and attempted narcotics possession since his release from prison following a 7-year sentence for a 2014 attempted aggravated battery with a firearm conviction.

A 17-year-old boy found in the van with Palmer was petitioned to juvenile court on charges of armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon in connection with the incident on Westmoreland Avenue, according to police. Three other people found in the van were released without charges after questioning by police.

According to Waukegan police, Palmer also carried out a pair of robberies on Thanksgiving morning. Police said he was joined in those Robberies by Gregory Battle, the only adult charged in the September 2017 attack on three members of a Batavia family at Six Flags Great America's Halloween Fright Fest event. The incident left a 12-year-old and his parents hospitalized.

Battle, 20, of the 3700 block of Salem Drive, Northbrook, has been held in Wisconsin at the Racine County Jail since Dec. 12 in connection with a charge of retail theft, according to court records. Lake County prosecutors approved charges of armed robbery, aggravated robbery and robbery and have issued a warrant for his arrest.

According to Waukegan police, Battle and Palmer carried out two robberies while driving around together in a gold Buick sedan on Nov. 28. In the first one, Battle got out of the car around 9:15 a.m. in the 400 block of Lincoln Avenue, pulled out a black-colored gun and demanded money and property. Five minutes later, a car with the same description pulled up alongside a pedestrian in the 100 block of South Martin Avenue. In that case, both Battle and Palmer got out of the Buick and battered their victim before fleeing, police said.

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A year after the incident at Six Flags in Gurnee, prosecutors dropped six felony counts of aggravated battery in a public place ahead of a scheduled trial, announcing the family was unable to testify due to the medical consequences of their injuries, according to WLS.

The case could not proceed after a key witness died, and Battle's attorney, listed as Doug Zeit, filed a motion for a speedy trial, Lake County State's Attorney Mike Nerheim told the Lake County News-Sun in September 2018. He guaranteed charges would be refiled.

Lawyers for family who said Battle and more than a dozen other teens attacked them while in line at Six Flags filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court against Great America LLC in November 2017. It was later transferred to Lake County court, where a hearing on a motion to compel is set for Thursday and a jury trial is tentatively scheduled for September 2020, according to court records.