Out On Night Patrol

Officer Mike Liebau flicks the switch inside his squad car and the sirens start screaming. He starts to accelerate northbound on Skokie Boulevard and within seconds he's pushing 50 mph.

It's 8:56 p.m. on a Thursday and Liebau is responding to a two-car accident at Church Street and Skokie Boulevard. All he knows is four airbags were deployed and one – possibly two – people broke their arm.

Minutes later, Liebau arrives at the crash site where four squad cars, a fire truck and ambulance have assembled. At least 40 spectators gathered on the sidewalks to see what had happened.

The two cars involved – a Chevy Malibu and a Toyota Camry – were both hit hard, with the front end of the Camry looking like it smashed into a wall. Liebau grabs a clipboard from his dashboard and runs off to the center of the accident.

According to fire and police officials, the Camry was northbound and tried to turn west onto Church while the Malibu was traveling southbound. Both cars had the green light but collided as the Camry tried to make a left turn.

At the time, police were unable to provide any names of those involved in the crash.

While the accident was the Camry operator's fault, the Malibu's driver was arrested later for not having a valid driver's license, according to police. The Malibu driver's 1-year-old daughter was in the car and, fortunately, both were not seriously injured, except for some soreness on the mother's part.

The Camry, however, didn't make out so well as three of the four teenage occupants were rushed to separate hospitals for treatment. As ambulance workers carried off one teen on a stretcher, a mother ran into the intersection screaming, "My son was in that car!"

Fortunately, her son was the only one of the four that wasn't injured.

And while all this wasn't new for Liebau, the veteran policeman said it has been two years since he has been on patrol. He joined the force in 1994 and did street patrols until 2002. He was later selected to the Tactical Mission Team for two years. In 2006, Liebau made detective and now works on some of the more complex cases in Skokie.

"Unless someone does something really stupid, I'm not going to be doing traffic violations tonight," Liebau joked. "But it's nice to get in touch with some of the stuff on the street. It's a good change."

By the time the accident was over, it was already 9:45 p.m. and Liebau had a little more than an hour left on his shift. After dropping off some paperwork at Rush North Shore Hospital, another call comes over his squad car's scanner.

"DoubleTree Hotel manager says a group in the basement is getting rowdy and things are getting out of hand," the dispatch announced over the radio.

About six months ago, a gang known as the "Gangster Disciples" rumbled in the basement of the DoubleTree Hotel at 9599 Skokie Blvd. and more than 50 squad cars from neighboring cities showed up to stop the fight from escalating, Liebau said. Skokie police didn't want to take any chances with the current situation, so  more than 10 squad cars responded.

This time, it was the Peoples Club of Nigeria. When police arrived, about 40 Nigerians dressed in agbadas, a colorful wide armed piece of clothing that stretches to the ankle, were arguing with thick accents at the top of their lungs in the basement.

The argument erupted over a political decision regarding the club, according to DoubleTree security. Words were exchanged and it wasn't long before Skokie police had their hands full.

"They didn't even drink any alcohol," said a hotel security employee. "They've been here for at least three hours and haven't even touched their food."

In the end, officers were able to resolve the situation peacefully. As for Liebau, his shift was over and he was ready to go home.

"I don't know what it is about Thursdays, but historical they are a bad day or busy shift, at least for me," he said. "I hope tonight wasn't too dull for [Skokie Patch]."

Skokie Patch was invited for a ride along from 7 to 11 p.m. with the Skokie Police Department. To read about our ride along with the Bicycle Patrol Unit, click here.