Brawling In Bank, Woman Batters Cop

SKOKIE, IL — A Skokie police officer was left with a cut and swollen eye after a being struck in a bank by a fleeing woman who said she sought only to cash a check and everyone has now "learned their lesson," according to police reports.

Marie E. Roberge, 40, of the 7500 block of Karlov Avenue in Skokie, was arrested and charged March 2 with two misdemeanor battery counts and one count of felony aggravated battery to a police officer. After being arrested, she asked for a cup of water and threw it at the face of an officer, records show.

Skokie police received a call that a woman had pulled the hair of an employee at the Wal-Mart at 3626 Touhy Avenue around 4:30 p.m. When they arrived, the Roberge had already left and was inside the neighboring PNC Bank. A bank teller told police he was working with a customer when she came in and walked over from an ATM, interrupted him while he was with a customer and told him the machine was broken but she needed to deposit a check.

The teller soon saw the police officer enter the bank and stand behind Roberge, who he recalled saying "I do not like the police, please tell her to move away from me." He relayed the message to the officer, who did indeed step back, the teller told police.

After saying "I'm not f_____ speaking with you," she told the officer to leave, then took off running after muttering something about an "escape," witnesses told police.

Roberge struck the officer who had grabbed the back of her jacket in the face, possibly with a water bottle. That officer could not remember what happened next and may have been briefly knocked unconscious, according to reports.

The Wal-Mart security guard who had come along to identify her, along with another responding Skokie police officer, was able to step in and help subdue a resisting Roberge, police said.

The officer was taken to the hospital for treatment, while Roberge turned down medical treatment and was taken into custody.

Wal-Mart provided police with surveillance video, which investigators say shows "Roberge grabbed [the Wal-Mart employee's] hair without any apparent provocation."

Roberge was already known to Skokie police and Wal-Mart security. An alert in Skokie police records says she has a mental disorder. Wal-Mart's guard told police he was familiar with Roberge "from previous disturbances at Wal-Mart." He described her as erratic, going from talking about his brightly colored vest to saying she wanted to fight, according to police reports.

Following her arrest, Roberge gave police her side of the story after waiving her right to remain silent:

She went to PNC Bank at 3636 Touhy to cash a check, but no one was there. Looking for help, she went to Wal-Mart. While she was waiting in line for customer service, an employee approached her. She believed she knew him from elementary school, mistakenly believing him to be called "Shawn Phillipe,"(He is not.) She only pulled his hair as a "way to say hello and verify his identity," according to the police summary of her account.

While she was giving her side of the story to police, she attempted to reach for a detective's head, perhaps as a way to demonstrate, but was blocked.

Roberge described returning to PNC Bank, where she said she remembered a woman "dressed like" a police officer. She said she did not want to talk to this woman and said that the woman refused to leave and attacked her, without explaining further. She later said "everybody had learned their lesson" so there "was no reason to go to court," according to the summary of her police interview.

Roberge is now banned from Wal-Mart. The most serious charge she faces, aggravated battery against a police officer, is a class 2 felony and carries a sentence of up to seven years.

Top photo: Marie Roberge (Courtesy Skokie Police)