Bridgeview Brouhaha Blasts Off On Fourth Of July, Fireworks Shot At First Responders: Police

BRIDGEVIEW, IL—Bridgeview police dispersed a rowdy crowd who were shooting off fireworks near businesses early Saturday morning on the Fourth of July.

Sometime after midnight, a crowd of 200 and 400 mostly male teens and young adults had gathered in the parking lots of two mini-malls on the east side of Harlem Avenue between 84th and 85th Streets.

“The crowd got a little big for the area,” Bridgeview Police Chief Ricardo Mancha told Patch. “They were shooting off fireworks.”

The police chief said they initially received three 911 calls of people hurt. When Bridgeview police and firefighter/paramedics arrived, some in the crowd began shooting fireworks at the first responders.

“Obviously we were concerned about the safety of the firefighters,” Manch said. “When we went to find [the injured people], we saw how unsafe it was. They were shooting fireworks at us.”

Mancha said the first responders had to fall back and leave. They went back to regroup. Thirty minutes later, officers returned in a Terradyne armored vehicle and were able to disperse the crowd.

“We never did find the people who were hurt,” Mancha told Patch. “If they were hurt, they probably already went to the hospital.”

Asked if officers went to find the injured parties at Advocate Christ Medical Center, the area’s designated trauma center in Oak Lawn, Mancha said officers checked, but the lines for the ER were “out the door.”

Unrelated to the unruly crowd, Mancha said Bridgeview police arrested a driver involved in a road rage incident and wrote citations for violations of local fireworks ordinances.