Man charged with throwing rocks through car windows in Loop

A man has been charged with breaking car windows with rocks Thursday in the Loop.

Patrick Newton, 29, is charged with five felony counts of criminal damage to property valued between $300 and $10,000, according to Chicago police. He is also charged with two misdemeanor counts of property damage under $500.

Someone called authorities at 10:28 a.m. to report a man throwing rocks and breaking the window of a parked car as he walked south in the first block of South Wells Street, police said. Officers arrived to find the car and four other vehicles with broken rear windows.

Chicago police

They found Newton in the 800 block of South Wells at 10:37 a.m. and took him into custody for questioning, police said. A witness identified him as the man who threw the rocks. He is set to appear in court for a bail hearing Friday.

Detectives are still investigating whether Newton’s case is connected to a series of similar incidents in which rocks were thrown through dozens of car windows earlier this week at Loop parking garages.

About 12:45 a.m. Thursday, officers responded to a garage in the first block of East Adams Street and found 17 vehicles with rocks thrown through their rear windows, police said. The vehicles were scattered throughout different floors of the 12-story garage. No thefts were reported from any of the vehicles.

Police believe that incident may be related to a similar case from Tuesday, when officers found 24 vehicles damaged in the same way about 6:15 p.m. at a parking garage in the 300 block of South Franklin Street. Another incident was reported an hour later at a garage in the 100 block of West Madison Street.

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