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Alderman, neighbors stop trespassers from stripping abandoned building in Chatham
Alderman, neighbors stop trespassers from stripping abandoned building in Chatham

CBS News

time04-08-2025

  • CBS News

Alderman, neighbors stop trespassers from stripping abandoned building in Chatham

An abandoned building on the South Side was gutted over the weekend. Neighbors in Chatham caught people inside the former restaurant, tearing it apart, apparently wanting to sell the metal. Ald. William Hall (6th Ward) got wind of it and caught the suspects in the act on Sunday. He said they were going to sell the metal for their own business. "We do more action than talking," Christopher Hicks said. Hicks is very vigilant about his neighborhood. He's the president of Chatham United, a neighborhood block club. Last week, he and other neighbors saw people gutting out the building. "I kept getting calls from the neighbors saying, 'Hey, they're still working, they're still working." From there, we contacted the alderman's office and let him know what was going on," Hicks said. The building was formerly known as "Oooh Wee It Is," a soul food restaurant that was abandoned over a year ago. "Once we got word back, no permits for demolition. There was no license or application for business. It was then, at that point, I recognized it was an illegal operation," Hall said. Hall saw with his own eyes people illegally yanking metal out of this vacant building. "When I turned down the block, was mayhem. I saw individuals going in and out, trucks rather lining up, cars going in and out, trucks lining up to begin to take scraps," he said. Hall said he immediately called the Department of Buildings Commissioner, Marlene Hopkins, and got them shut down in less than 30 minutes. The orange notice was placed on the building, stating that all construction work must stop immediately. "I called her at 5:30-ish. Before 6 o'clock, this was resolved and that's because that staff of building inspectors, they work all hours of the day," said. Hall said the holes in the walls lead to questions about whether the building is structurally sound. He said the building must be up to code. "It could collapse," he said. He said it's unclear who owns the building because a trust hides it. According to the Illinois State Bar Association, a property, like a house, might be placed in a trust primarily to avoid the probate process, maintain privacy, and potentially offer some level of asset protection. "Whoever owns this, the trust, we don't trust you. We've been catching you do illegal things. So until this trust is trustworthy, our office is going to make sure that nobody steps on this premises to do whatever they want to continue to do," Hall said. "We are lights, camera, action. We have lights on our houses, we have cameras around here, and we take action when we need to take action. This is an example of taking action," Hicks said. Hall says to keep them from coming back, he had a concrete barrier placed in front of the parking lot, to prevent anyone from driving inside.

Jacob Crawshaw's parents 'will never know truth' about A14 death
Jacob Crawshaw's parents 'will never know truth' about A14 death

BBC News

time01-07-2025

  • BBC News

Jacob Crawshaw's parents 'will never know truth' about A14 death

The family of a 19-year-old who died when the work van he was a passenger in crashed fear they "will never know for certain" if the driver was on drugs at the time after police failed to carry out a roadside test. Jacob Crawshaw's parents say there are still unanswered questions after their son died on the A14 in Northamptonshire in van driver, Christopher Hicks from St Neots in Cambridgeshire, was convicted of causing death by careless driving, but a drugs test, which was positive, was only carried out the day after the Police said the case was being reviewed by the police watchdog. Jacob was being driven by Hicks on the westbound carriageway of the A14, between junctions 11 and 10 near Barton Seagrave on 17 October 2021, when it hit the back of a slower moving lorry. He was pronounced dead at the scene but Hicks was not drug tested until the following day.A forensic report stated he was over the legal limit for tetrahydrocannabinol, which is the main psychoactive compound in cannabis, but the test was deemed to have been carried out too late to establish whether he was under the influence at the time of the crash. Mr and Mrs Crawshaw pointed to a text their son sent to a friend minutes before the crash which stated: "My driver is stoned. Lovely". "It felt like we had been hit again," his father James said after they had learned about the text."Unfortunately, because the police didn't do a drugs test on that morning and only did it the day after, we will never know for certain whether the driver was stoned or not. "All we do know is Jacob believed he was stoned."Jacob's mother Tracey said: "Knowing it wasn't investigated properly, the collision and the lack of true justice that we got. is devastating. "The police didn't do what they needed to do."The BBC has approached Hicks, who lived in the Eynesbury area, for comment but we have not had a response. In a letter to the family, Northamptonshire Police acknowledged they should have done more."The delay in obtaining this sample has had a significant impact on the case and the investigator's ability to include a significant aggravating factor," it was jailed for 30 weeks in February 2024 at Northampton Crown Court. Upon his release, he obtained a job at a branch of Timpson in St Neots but was moved after the family complained that he was working on the same retail site as Jacob's said it did not comment on "individual colleagues". The shortcomings in the way the crash was investigated has similarities with the Harry Dunn case, according to Jacob's family.19-year-old Mr Dunn died when his motorcycle was hit by a car outside the US airbase of RAF Croughton in car driver, American diplomat Anne Sacoolas, subsequently left the country. A recent report into Northamptonshire Police's handling of that investigation disclosed how a roadside drug test had not been conducted on that occasion Crawshaw said: "I could see so many similarities with what happened with our case. "There could be other cases where they haven't been investigated properly".Harry's mother, Charlotte Charles, is supporting Jacob's parents. "I was really shocked and quite devastated to learn there is another family. I now fear that this is the tip of the iceberg," she told the BBC."Yet again the same mistakes were made. There are huge parallels." The Crawshaw family is due to attend a meeting with a senior Northamptonshire Police officer later this are also hoping to meet the county's Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, who is responsible for oversight of the police force.A spokesman for the force said: "Our Professional Standards Department have confirmed the matter is now with the Independent Office for Police Conduct for review. "This was done at the family's request in line with their legal right to review." Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

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