Clerk with 2-by-4 thwarts robber
By BRIAN STANLEY bstanley@stmedianetwork.com December 3, 2012 2:50PM
Updated: January 5, 2013 6:18AM
The effects of an earlier crime led to the prevention of another Saturday night in Bolingbrook.
Police Lt. Mike Rompa said Christopher D. Esbensen, 22, came into Foremost Liquors, 419 N. Bolingbrook Drive, several times during the evening while a 30-year-old woman and 28-year-old man were working in the store.
Just before midnight, Esbensen returned again, pulled out a butterfly knife and asked for the cash in the register, police said.
“We had a break-in a few months ago and there was still some wood near (the counter),” owner Dick Hayes said.
The woman allegedly struck the robber with a 2-by-4 to disarm Esbensen before the “large” male employee tackled him.
“His plan was thwarted by the victims,” Rompa acknowledged.
Esbensen reportedly fought with the man and tried to get away before police arrived. He was treated at Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital for minor injuries. The clerks were not injured.
Esbensen, of 779 Dunham Court, Bolingbrook, was booked into the county jail on charges of armed robbery, aggravated battery and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.
His bond amount had not been set Monday morning.
Records show Esbensen was arrested by Bolingbrook police in January 2010 on charges of shoplifting and aggravated battery.
