The Run Down
Now, as is our tradition, here are some “highlights” of the Pride Parade taken from Chicago Police Department radio traffic. NOTE: This is not an exhaustive list of police and fire activity. It is merely a selection of transmissions chosen to inform or entertain.
2:54AM — It’s a little early, but police call for more units to handle a fight in the parking lot of Boystown’s iHod (International House of Disturbances).
11:53AM — An 11-year-old boy is missing on the parade route. He’s said to be wearing a ”rainbow unicorn hat with a tail on it." He’s found five minutes later.
12:19PM — Someone is selling Jello shots out of a blue cooler at Cornelia and Halsted. Officer: “There’s a lot of blue coolers out here!” Another officer: “There’s a lot of all coolers out here.”
1:17PM — Dispatch: “Caller says people are cursing out people on the barricades who are trying to move north” at Halsted and Aldine. A few seconds later, a correction: “Oh, you know what? It says people are being *crushed* on the barricades as they move north.”
2:14PM — There’s a fight on top of a building at Melrose and Halsted.
2:16PM — WINNER! Our first arrest of the day takes place at Roscoe and Halsted. Well done, youngster.
2:38PM — “Is the parade over with?” “NO!!!!” “That’s a negative.”
2:40PM — A woman is foaming at the mouth. Halsted and Belmont.
2:46PM — The last float has crossed the *start* line. It’ll be nearly two hours before it crosses the finish line.
3:08PM — Lincoln and Wellington: Man says an unknown woman asked to use his phone because her car was stalled. She used it, gave the phone back, chugged a beer, got into her car, crashed into another car, and sped off. Female, white, 20’s, heading toward the expressway.
3:22PM — Officer needs another car. There is a couple having sex in the parking lot at the Boystown iHob (International House Of Bowchickawowwow).
3:56PM — Two arrests as large fights break out at Belmont and Clark. Skirmishes and brawls will continue along Belmont between Clark and Racine until the early morning hours.
4:00PM — Voice on the radio: “Let’s get the people outta here.” You wish. This is gonna take a while.
Belmont & Sheffield at 5:50 p.m.
4:14PM — At Clark Street Dog: Caller says her 19-year-old female friend needs an ambulance. The friend “hasn’t been drinking. She’s just overwhelmed.” We know the feeling, honey.
4:21PM — Police are using horses and bike teams to control massive crowds around the Belmont Red Line station. Four blocks away, the Addison station is said to be “clear.”
4:41PM — Random transmission: “Disregard the battery in progress. It was a misunderstanding over some pizza.”
4:43PM — The final parade participant has crossed the finish line.
4:55PM — “Ten females fighting with bottles” at Cornelia and Halsted.
5:15PM — Broadway/Halsted: An 18-year-old man was walking with his 11-year-old sister when “someone snatched her.” He already called his parents. They’re on their way to the city. He’s crying uncontrollably.
5:31PM — “They’ve taken over Sheffield and Belmont.” Many, many battery incidents are reported in the area.
6:04PM — 30 people fighting in the street at Belmont and Racine. A police emergency is declared after the crowd begins “attacking” an officer’s unmarked patrol car. The incident was captured on video:
7:46PM — Burling and Wrightwood: “A woman is staggering down the street yelling. She staggers a few steps, then she rolls around on the ground.”
8:13PM — Police deputy chief in charge of the parade operation asks to have surveillance cameras aimed at 930 Belmont because sh*t is about to go down. It does. “People are throwing things at officers” and “throwing things from both sides of the street,” police say.
8:30PM — Deputy chief: “Anybody that needs to be locked up, we’re gonna give them a place to stay tonight.”
9:12PM — Oh, great. The train tracks have caught on fire at the Belmont Red Line station. Police evacuate a full train. Power is turned off to the rails. CTA workers put the fire out.
9:33PM — Police witness a fight outside a bar in the 1000 block of West Belmont. Two arrests. Ambulance summoned for an injured woman.
9:46PM — Belmont and Sheffield: Police foot chase erupts after a man beats a woman on the street. Woman taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center. Later, the man will be taken there, too, because “the victim managed to defend herself a little bit.”
10:14PM — Group jumping on cars. 3100 block of North Sheffield. Police move in. Video:
10:22PM — 7-Eleven at Halsted and Roscoe is “asked” to close. It closes. Boystown bars follow suit.
10:36PM — “We got citizens throwing bikes at each other.” Newport and Halsted.
OOPS! — Forgot to mention something. That 11-year-old girl who got snatched from her 18-year-old brother? The brother made it up.
10:50PM — Fights begin erupting along Halsted, then spread to Belmont.
11:01PM — Random transmission: “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear that. I was talking to some idiot over here.”
11:03PM — Cop, sounding amazed, reports, “some guy just passed out unconscious right in front of us.” EMS rolling. Halsted and Aldine.
12:25AM — “DUI driver. Clark/Wellington. Look for a black SUV heading north with a female on the hood holding alcohol in her hand. Possible drunk driver.”
1:27AM — The crowd is now throwing bottles. Clark and Belmont.
2:47AM — A Streets & Sanitation crew that is cleaning up Halsted Street sees two men get robbed at Halsted and Cornelia. Police catch one offender. Three others escape. Taken: Cigarettes and cash.
4:12AM — Sex offense in progress. An officer monitoring the pod camera reports "there's a naked man running around" at Belmont and Sheffield. Based on everything else that's been going on at that intersection, we'd say leave him alone.
