Crime & Safety

Downers Man, Woman Charged With Obstruction After Running From Officer: Police Blotter

Downers Grove police reports, July 14

Two Downers Grove residents are headed to court after they tried to run from police in a park on July 14, according to a report.

Dylan C. Policheri, 21, of the 3800 block of Sterling, and Kaitlynn Nelson 20, of the 4900 block of Puffer, were each charged with obstructing a police officer and being in a park after hours. Nelson was also charged with possession of cannabis and drug paraphernalia.

An officer on patrol found Policheri and Nelson in a baseball field at 9:20 p.m. after spotting an empty car parked nearby on the 4000 block of Saratoga Avenue. He activated his spotlight and announced over speaker for them to come to his car to investigate why they were in the park after closing hours. 

While Policheri and Nelson looked back at the officer then back at each other to decide what they should do, the officer activated his emergency lights and called them again. They took off running west around the field and then north along the fence line, according to a report.

The officer drove parallel to them announcing over the speaker to stop numerous times. When they kept running, he left his police vehicle to pursue them on foot and announced that they were under arrest.

Policheri began to slow down and gave up as Nelson continued to run north on 3900 block of Saratoga. Policheri told her to come back. 

"At that time Ofc. Buzecky who was responding to the foot pursuit came around the corner in his squad and the female stopped," the report said. "She then reluctantly came back to my location."

A police sergeant retraced Policheri and Nelson's steps in the park and found a black change purse with cannabis and a glass smoking pipe inside, according to the report. Policheri and Nelson both initially denied ownership of the drugs and pipe. 

After Policheri was arrested, police spoke to Nelson again but their last conversation was redacted in the police report. Policheri and Nelson were transported to the Downers Grove Police Department. They were charged and each received a Sept. 9 court date in Wheaton.

Find out what's happening in Downers Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

There are plenty of ways to keep up on Downers Grove news:

Police Blotter information is provided by local law enforcement agencies. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome.

Find out what's happening in Downers Grovewith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

To request removal of your name from an arrest report, submit these required items to arrestreports@patch.com.