This post is not a joke. It’s a story that actually happened right before the holidays, a stone throw away from where I live, and put our little community of North Edgebrook on the local and national news radar. You can read about the details here. The report leaves out a minute but important detail that I myself and my wife were involved in, with regard to this incident (I’ll get to that shortly).

On Saturday, December 22, 2007, a mother-daughter team that was part of a cleaning crew found themselves trapped in a stuck elevator at the building at 6000 W. Touhy Ave. It was late in the day, the few businesses that operate in this building had already closed for the holidays, and the building wasn’t going to re-open until December 26. The two woman had parked their car in the parking lot behind Edgebrook Bank. Alas, they had left their cell phones in the car. But they had the car keys with them in the elevator, thus they decided to press the alarm key on the remote door opener. Their thinking was that by setting off the car alarm incessantly they might be able to get someone’s attention who would then come to or send someone to their rescue.

And this is where my wife and I enter the story. That same night when these woman were trapped in the elevator, my wife and I were coming home late from a Christmas party. As we turned the corner on Meade Ave., we noticed a loud car alarm on a Honda Accord that was parked in the lot behind the building at 6000 W. Touhy. There were no other cars parked in the lot, as we entered it. It was pitch-black darkness, so we had to direct our headlights onto the license plate of the Honda to get the plate number. My wife then decided to call 311 to report this unusual incident. Meanwhile, the car alarm of the Honda was so loud that I was sure it could be heard in neighboring Sauganash, let alone by the residents who lived adjacent to the parking lot. The 311 operator promised to notify CPD, and confident that this matter would be attended to, we decided to continue our way home. Just to be on the safe side, I stuck my head out of our driveway ten minutes later, and sure enough, a CPD squad car turned onto Meade Ave. and into the building parking lot. Now I was able to turn in for the night, in peace, even though the car alarm was to be going off for many more hours to come.

The next morning (Sunday), the Honda was still in the parking lot. The car alarm wasn’t going off as frequently any longer. Some individuals were circling the car, but I wasn’t sure who they were, or what they were looking at. I figured they might be the owners of the car, but I was busy and didn’t have time to stop and talk with them. On Christmas Eve morning, the car was still in the lot but evidently, that morning, the two women were found by one of the facility managers of the building who then notified the Fire Department that ended up rescuing them.

But here are some questions that I have: Conceivably, my wife and I were the first people in the neighborhood who notified the authorities about this incident on Saturday night. CPD showed up, but then left. Did they run the license plates on the Honda to find out who the owner of the car was? Subsequently, did they attempt to contact them on their home phone (I know that CPD has that capability)? Were there no other relatives of these two women who were concerned about their whereabouts/absence for two days? Do we now have to pack a few MRE’s prior to setting foot into an elevator in Chicago?

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