Politics & Government

Residents Fear Retaliation After Snow Scuffle

After a parking incident sparked a scuffle, Libertyville resident asks the village for help addressing parking issues on Austin Avenue.

Christina Coslow used to walk her dogs alone around her neighborhood but now the Libertyville resident says she’s afraid and is considering arming herself with more than a pepper spray.

On Feb. 1, Coslow called the police after she saw a man punch her fiancé Tony Klimczak, 26, in the face while he was out shoveling their driveway on the 200 block of Austin Ave.

According to police reports, Matthew Zabrowski, 26, apparently knocked over garbage cans while parking his car and took offense when Klimczak asked him to manually move them. Zabrowski was cited for battery and released on personal bond. His court date is set for March 7.

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Coslow says she is scared because Zabrowski often parks in front of their house.

“[Zabrowski] parks in front of our house every day, we know he’s got a past. He could be hiding behind the bushes. I don’t know what he would do but since he did threaten us and say, ‘you don’t know who I am, and I’ve stabbed two people and I’ve done this and that,’ what makes it that he’s not going to do something to us? Especially since we pressed charges against him,” Coslow said. “Now I’m a little worried, looking out my windows more often and [my fiancé] actually put blinds up in all of our windows, which we hadn’t had, but just to be safe now we are taking extra precautions.”

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Instead of returning home directly from work, Coslow now waits at Klimczak’s parents house. She is also considering applying for gun licenses.

The Libertyville Police Department declined to comment on Zabrowski’s records, and Zabrowski could not be reached for comment.

On Tuesday, Klimczak appeared in front of the village board for the first time to ask the village for stricter enforcement with the parking rules.

“My older neighbor next door was not able to get out of the driveway the other morning since one of the tenants was parked across the street and it was so narrow she couldn’t back out,” Klimczak told the village board. “I’m starting to feel kind of like a second-grade citizen. I’ve lived in Libertyville most of my life. I chose to move here because I love Libertyville; I grew up here, my parents live here. But seeing how their street is treated compared to my street is very upsetting.”

The village code does not allow cars to park on village streets or highway between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. when there is one inch of snow on the street.

Libertyville Police Chief Clinton Herdegen says during the snow blizzard, “our personnel were extremely busy so unable to really enforce that particular ordinance.”

However, Klimczak’s neighbor, Elizsbeth Spencer, says parking has been an ongoing issue. Spencer says she has called the police for help because vehicles parked on the street have made it hard to get out of her driveway.

“I don’t care if someone parks in front of my house but they will park there for three days or five days and that is just annoying,” Spencer said.

Herdegen says his staff will be closely monitoring the issue.

“As a matter of routine, vehicles are not allowed to park on the street from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., so I’ve asked our midnight shift officers to closely monitor that area to see if we are having that kind of a problem there and to enforce that ordinance should they notice that it is an ongoing problem,” Herdegen said.

After the recent parking incident, the couple says they are installing security cameras but may consider moving if the situation does not improve.

“If this is something that’s not going to be resolved then we would consider putting the house up for sale,” Coslow said. “If we want to have a family, I don’t want to not be able to walk outside with my dog and my kids without being able to enjoy the neighborhood like we were doing before.”


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