By Frank Main, Chicago Sun Times
Talk about being in the right place at the right time.
On Friday, Chicago Police Officer Eric W. Taylor Sr. boarded an 87th Street bus to arrest a suspected rapist after he noticed the victim’s relative waving for help.
Then on Saturday, he waited outside a Blockbuster to nab two robbers as they ran out of the video store. Again, a citizen had alerted him about the robbery.
Three felony arrests in two days was enough to get the attention of the department’s top brass.
“In a beat car, this is very unusual,” police spokesman Pat Camden said. “It is a matter of timing and using good police intuition.”
Taylor, 37, said he honed his observational skills working for the now-defunct Chicago Housing Authority police for 10 years. He did a brief stint with the Carol Stream police before joining the Chicago Police Department more than three years ago.
Taylor, who patrols Beat 631 in the Gresham police district, was alone Saturday at 10:41 p.m. when he saw a car with its hazard lights blinking outside a Blockbuster on 87th near the Dan Ryan Expy. A man in the car said he was waiting for an uncle to help him with mechanical problems.
Suddenly a woman walked up and said a robbery was under way in the store.
“I drew my weapon and approached Blockbuster,” Taylor said. “Four guys came out with hoods over their faces.”
He ordered the men to show their hands, and two sprinted away. The other two stopped and put up their hands.
The car took off while Taylor handcuffed the men. On the ground, he found a 9mm handgun that matched the holdup weapon.
“When I heard the lights and sirens, that was like an angel coming,” he said of the arriving squad cars. “I was all by myself.”
Taylor went into the store and spoke to a pregnant clerk, who happens to be married to a Chicago cop. He learned that Bobby Jones, one of the men he arrested, was the alleged gunman.
“The gunman had ordered them to the ground and told them unlock the safe. He opened the cash register and threw the money on the ground. They [the manager and clerk] were crying and everything.”
Jones, 19, of the 4400 block of South Leclaire, and Elijah Parker, 24, of the 6100 block of South Paulina, have been charged with armed robbery. Police recovered a security video showing the men entering the store, Taylor said. They are members of the Vice Lords street gang, officials said.
“It was 10 minutes until my shift ended, but I stayed until 5 in the morning,” Taylor said. “It was well worth it to get these punks off the street.”
The day before, about 4:22 p.m., Taylor was riding with his partner, Officer Valencia Simpson-Owens, when a woman flagged them down, saying her 17-year-old relative was raped in a home in the 8600 block of South Prairie. The rapist had boarded a Chicago Transit Authority bus to escape, the woman said.
The officers found the bus at 87th and Lafayette -- coincidentally near the Blockbuster where the alleged robbers were caught. Simpson-Owens stood at the back door and Taylor boarded with his gun drawn, ordering the suspect to show his hands.
“A lot of people were on the bus,” he said. “People were ducking down and hiding.”
The suspect, Naphtali Miller, 31, of the 9100 block of South Throop, was carrying a class ring, earrings and gold bracelets that he swiped from the victim, Taylor said. Miller, who is charged with aggravated assault, home invasion and robbery, has confessed, Taylor said. Miller also is a suspect in a March 23 rape of a 22-year-old woman, according to police.
Taylor said he received pats on the back from his supervisors and was told he might receive a commendation for the arrests. But he knows it was the result of luck and skill.
“In both cases, people told me a crime was happening,” Taylor said. “This shows that high-visibility patrols fight crime.”