Vehicular Burglary in Chicago

My question involves criminal law for the state of: illinois

okay. so after my celebrations for my chicago blackhawks stanley cup win yesterday, i was lying on my living room couch with my windows open. at about 1:30 am, i hear a car door slam and it sounds near my house. it sounded so close i felt it was reason enough to take a look. another reason i looked up was because my fathers radio was stolen about 4 months ago. when i looked outside i see the lights on my mothers early 90's pontiac lit up, with nobody inside but someone standing near the lexus exactly across the street.the lights stay on for about 30 seconds after the door is closed, so he definitely was in there. i run upstairs and tell my parents. my father, who had been drinking heavily due to the blackhawks win, was trying his hardest to make it down the stairs, but just couldnt run. i quickly grab my louisville slugger and bolt outside. the dudes gone! my mother said he went down the street so i quickly took off (as quick as i can im over 300 lbs.) and he was nowhere in sight.damn this is a lot of text, but my question is if i would have grabbed a .44 magnum and shot this lowlife,(which i would have DEFINITELY done) what would happen? lets say the gun was registered and everything just not to me.

You mean, can you start shooting people on the street because you suspect them of a crime?

No, you cannot.

what? dude he WAS in the car. the lights WERE on. shit WAS moved around. he DID steal sunglasses and other stuff out of the lexus across the street. i didnt go to harvard, but im pretty sure thats a crime buddy. did you even read my first post?

Quote:

---

Quoting bhawksfan773

---

what? dude he WAS in the car. the lights WERE on. shit WAS moved around. he DID steal sunglasses and other stuff out of the lexus across the street. i didnt go to harvard, but im pretty sure thats a crime buddy. did you even read my first post?

---

Yes, I did.

You said you saw a man standing next to a car. You then said that you didn't see anyone in your mother's car. Then you said that you noticed some things missing from the two vehicles. At no time did you say you saw the man steal anything from you.

You did NOT see a crime take place. Heck, unless they caught him with evidence in his pocket, you didn't even see enough to convict him in a court of law.

you saw your mother's light on. You saw a man walking down the street - which, last time I checked, was not illegal. Other than your suspicion, you have no linkage between that pedestrian and the supposed theft.

You also did not state the last point necessary before shooting someone in the street... a clear and present danger to your own safety.

Vigilante justice is poor justice.... and will get you imprisoned. Further, if you had caught up to this person and began beating him, you would be in jail yourself... you do not have the right or authority to beat a person into submission based upon your conjecture as to what happened.

okay. well maybe my first post wasn't too good. when i looked, he was near the lexus, when i made it upstairs, he was IN the lexus.my parents windows overlook it all. the guy across the street called the cops and THEY NEVER EVEN CAME! the commotion of waking my father with the windows open was probably enough to scare him off. now i know i couldnt have shot him and not got in trouble, but youre telling me i couldnt have even beat him up? thats ridiculous. ive never felt as helpless as i do right now. wtf should i have done? im a teenage male full of testosterone. im only kicking myself for not catching the bastard. what would the penalties be for shooting him or beating him (not too bad)? i have a spotless record. and am asking because i and the lexus owners have been victims of this a number of times now and i dont think itl be the last.

Quote:

---

Quoting bhawksfan773

---

okay. well maybe my first post wasn't too good. when i looked, he was near the lexus, when i made it upstairs, he was IN the lexus.my parents windows overlook it all. the guy across the street called the cops and THEY NEVER EVEN CAME! the commotion of waking my father with the windows open was probably enough to scare him off. now i know i couldnt have shot him and not got in trouble, but youre telling me i couldnt have even beat him up? thats ridiculous. ive never felt as helpless as i do right now. wtf should i have done? im a teenage male full of testosterone. im only kicking myself for not catching the bastard. what would the penalties be for shooting him or beating him (not too bad)? i have a spotless record. and am asking because i and the lexus owners have been victims of this a number of times now and i dont think itl be the last.

---

Your penalties for handing out a little "street justice"?

Assault with a deadly weapon, assault with intent, battery.

Lengthy jail term, there. think decades.

Then comes the civil suit.

oh, and let's not forget the whole "drinking under age" thing. Even if you were allowed to drink in dad's house, when you walked outside onto the street, all bets are off.

Another point... his actions do not excuse yours. He could be convicted of theft and you could STILL be convicted of the beating.

Last... you are 300 pounds and slow. Running after bad guys unless you really know what you are doing can be a real lesson in humility. Nobody likes to be beaten up with their own bat.

Quote:

---

Quoting cyjeff

---

oh, and let's not forget the whole "drinking under age" thing. Even if you were allowed to drink in dad's house, when you walked outside onto the street, all bets are off.

---

again, i question your reading. i never said i was drinking bro.if i was i wouldnt have ran a block to try and find him. so youre saying i should have calmly stayed inside and waited for the police? (who never showed up btw). i mean if i would have got him and laid the smackdown, he could really call the cops and say something like "i was robbing this guys car and he came out and beat my ass"? really? the fact is i didnt know what to do. my privacy felt so invaded. it takes 20 seconds to rob some poor sleeping dudes car and it takes the cops like half an hour to get there so theres NO way they would have got him. ive had everything from bikes to electronics stolen from me and im sick of it. sometimes, street justice is the only justice, and if i would have caught him and beat him to pulp i wouldnt have felt bit of remorse, or got arrested because the good ol chicago pd never even showed up.

Quote:

---

Quoting cyjeff

---

Last... you are 300 pounds and slow. Running after bad guys unless you really know what you are doing can be a real lesson in humility. Nobody likes to be beaten up with their own bat.

---

haha yeah im 300 pounds and slow and i also train in boxing and lift weights. so i didnt exactly not know what i was doing. and have played baseball for years so i can definitely swing a bat. i can almost guarantee i would have beaten this scrawny little white kid. given the same situation, i would have ran out there in a heartbeat. it sounds to me like youre either a female or a coward of a man. any man would remember that he has balls and go outside and beat someone down or at least try. not stay inside and lock the doors and hide from the big bad guy

Quote:

---

Quoting bhawksfan773

---

again, i question your reading. i never said i was drinking bro.if i was i wouldnt have ran a block to try and find him. so youre saying i should have calmly stayed inside and waited for the police? (who never showed up btw). i mean if i would have got him and laid the smackdown, he could really call the cops and say something like "i was robbing this guys car and he came out and beat my ass"? really? the fact is i didnt know what to do. my privacy felt so invaded. it takes 20 seconds to rob some poor sleeping dudes car and it takes the cops like half an hour to get there so theres NO way they would have got him. ive had everything from bikes to electronics stolen from me and im sick of it. sometimes, street justice is the only justice, and if i would have caught him and beat him to pulp i wouldnt have felt bit of remorse, or got arrested because the good ol chicago pd never even showed up.

---

That is EXACTLY what I am saying. People have been successfully sued by the robbers in their own home when the legal occupants shot them.

But you were NOT in clear and present danger of your own safety. Kid, your car wasn't even broken into.

Now you want to "beat down" anyone that does anything near you merely because you THINK they did something illegal.

Does that attitude come with a cape?

I assure you that a man bleeding to death on the curb will get plenty of attention from the men and women in blue.

Quote:

---

haha yeah im 300 pounds and slow and i also train in boxing and lift weights.

---

You said you were slow. I can only work with what you give me.

Quote:

---

so i didnt exactly not know what i was doing.

---

Uh huh.

Quote:

---

and have played baseball for years so i can definitely swing a bat

---

Any of those balls swing back?

Quote:

---

i can almost guarantee i would have beaten this scrawny little white kid.

---

So.... you are pretty sure you can beat up an unarmed "scrawny little white kid" with a bat.

That isn't exactly a proof positive statement.

Quote:

---

given the same situation, i would have ran out there in a heartbeat. it sounds to me like youre either a female or a coward of a man.

---

One of the toughest unarmed combat instructors I have ever known was a woman. She left the Marines as a Lt. Col after spending the last half decade at Parris Island teaching entire platoons of "men" how defenseless a woman could be. Only some required a medic.

SHE could have taken that bat away from you so quickly you would have thought she used magic.

By the way, only the losers in an argument resort to name calling when their logic fails. It is one of those things you learn as you grow up.

Quote:

---

any man would remember that he has balls and go outside and beat someone down or at least try.

---

Believe it or not, most men do not need the occasional attack on an unarmed man to feel better about themselves.

Quote:

---

not stay inside and lock the doors or whatever you say.

---

Call the police. That is why they are there.

Keep calling them. Ask for drive by's.

Quote:

---

Quoting cyjeff

---

Kid, your car wasn't even broken into.

---

why do you keep saying that? like im imagining it or something. he took a slim jim and opened my car door and proceeded to look for non existent goodies. my fathers other car was broken into the same way last time. how do i know it wasnt the same guy? coming back again.i was just trying to make sure there was no third time. he then closed the door and started on the car across the street. the owner of the car said things were missing and the guy had made a mess of the car. i dont THINK this happened man it happened. i dont walk around the streets with a baseball bat beating people, this guy was trying to steal my stuff. and thats worthy of a beating in a LOT of peoples eyes.so him being an "unarmed man" doesnt matter. i wouldnt have done it to be a macho man i would have done it because he was getting away.

Quote:

---

SHE could have taken that bat away from you so quickly you would have thought she used magic.

---

i get your point but SHE wasnt taking shit out of my car so i dont think id be swinging a bat at her. why would marines steal from cars?

Quote:

---

Call the police. That is why they are there.

---

i called the police. nobody showed up. its chicago cops im surprised they even answered.

Quote:

---

Quoting bhawksfan773

---

why do you keep saying that? like im imagining it or something. he took a slim jim and opened my car door and proceeded to look for non existent goodies. my fathers other car was broken into the same way last time. how do i know it wasnt the same guy? coming back again.i was just trying to make sure there was no third time. he then closed the door and started on the car across the street. the owner of the car said things were missing and the guy had made a mess of the car. i dont THINK this happened man it happened. i dont walk around the streets with a baseball bat beating people, this guy was trying to steal my stuff. and thats worthy of a beating in a LOT of peoples eyes.so him being an "unarmed man" doesnt matter. i wouldnt have done it to be a macho man i would have done it because he was getting away.

---

You keep saying the same things over and over to justify the use of violence.

You cannot.

I don't know how to say it any more plainly.

You cannot self impose sentence (a beating) upon someone you believe to be a criminal because you think you have evidence of a crime.

The law doesn't work that way.

Quote:

---

i get your point but SHE wasnt taking shit out of my car so i dont think id be swinging a bat at her. why would marines steal from cars?

---

Don't be cute.

You were saying that a woman or a coward wouldn't do the manly thing that you wanted to do... which was the manly act of beating an unarmed man to a pulp.

Let me ask you this. If you saw a man beating another unarmed man with a bat, what would you do?

Quote:

---

Quoting cyjeff

---

But you were NOT in clear and present danger of your own safety. Kid, your car wasn't even broken into.

---

so if you looked outside after clearly hearing the distinct noise of YOUR car door slam (the handle makes a weird noise when the door is closed) and saw that your once locked car was now lit up which can only be done by recently opening and closing it, and you then see someone in the street you would call it a night and go back to sleep?

Quote:

---

You cannot self impose sentence (a beating) upon someone you believe to be a criminal because you think you have evidence of a crime.

---

sure you can. thats exactly what i tried to do. i really find it hard to agree with the whole dont take action thing when the police never even came.

Quote:

---

which was the manly act of beating an unarmed man to a pulp.

---

not an unarmed man. a THEIF. a criminal. and i didnt know if he was unarmed he probably had his burglary tools

Quote:

---

Let me ask you this. If you saw a man beating another unarmed man with a bat, what would you do?

---

idk probably not get involved. most people that get hit with bats deserve it. like the guy who stole my stuff.

Quote:

---

Quoting bhawksfan773

---

which can only be done by recently opening and closing it,

---

ILLEGALLY opening and closing it.

bhawksfan773,

Think about this,

Your in Walmart one day and decide that the $16.00 pair of sunglasses you want to buy are over priced, so you decide instead of paying $16.00 for them that you will just take the price tag off, place the sun glasses on the top of your head and walk out of Walmart without paying for the sun glasses.

You make it half way across the parking lot and right before you are about to enter your car a security guard from Walmart runs up to you like a bat-out-of-hell and whacks you in the knee-cap and once you start to fall to the ground the security guard whacks you once again in the back of the head with a Louisville slugger, no wait, better yet, he pulls out a Mossberg 500 pump action shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot and smokes your ass.

Come on son, use common sense when you speak.