Berwyn Police Blotter
Musical instruments impounded during band’s Berwyn bar gig after open alcohol seen in van
September 21, 2008, 1:15 AM
An officer headed east in the 6500 block of 16th saw a maroon Dodge Caravan parked facing west on the north side of the street, west of Gunderson. The driver’s side rear passenger door was fully open, enabling the officer to see a man dressed in all black, drinking out of a brown bottle. The officer turned around and pulled in behind the van. As he did so, the drinker fled into the bar across the street.
The officer approached the vehicle, noticing a bottle of Modelo beer in the holder beside front seat passenger Jose Luis Chavez, 42, of Racine, WI; the keys, he could see, were in the ignition. A search of the van revealed a sack behind the front passenger seat containing a 6-pack of Modelo, with three full bottles, one empty and one half-drunk bottle. Chavez was charged with transporting open alcohol, and the van was impounded. The van also contained three guitars and a trumpet, which could not be removed from the van because police could not find anyone to verify who owned the instruments.
