Tresspassing issue in Cook County, IL
My friend was arrested for vandalism because some strangers had a party on his private patio at his condo development, left garbage, a table and other items behind, and he put the items in the dumpster. They claim he damaged the table. The condo development is apartment style. Each unit has either a balcony (second floor units) or a patio (ground floor units). Each patio is for the exclusive use and is the private property and responsibility of the associated unit owner. They are not a common element but are part of the respective individual owners.
These people did not ask permission to use the patio. They actually put a table and chairs, cooler, candles and other crap out there, had a party beyond 2 am and violated the city and association noise ordinances. My friend is an alcoholic, and once woken up by this ridiculous party, he started drinking (not with the other partiers - he stayed inside his place and had no interaction with them - he didn't want to go out and make a scene and just hoped they'd leave soon). When the people left for wherever they were staying, they left their empties and trash as well as the furniture and candles and so on, so he went out and carried it all to the dumpster. Drunk, he broke one candle. He rolled the round dining table on it's edge because he couldn't carry it by himself.
The trespassers got wind that he was moving the stuff to the trash and called the police. They gave the impression that my friend, drunk, had just come out and interfered in a party on their patio and started trashing their stuff. My friend, drunk, poorly represented himself so the police didn't listen to him when he explained they were trespassing and littered his patio, and that he was cleaning off his own property. He didn't invite them, didn't give them permission to encroach on his property, and didn't want their stuff on his patio. He wanted to make sure they didn't come back, and thought removing their stuff would send the message.
They are claiming that he ruined the edge of the table, scraping it by rolling it across the pavement to the dumpster. It's perhaps the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. As I would understand it, they were trespassing, were being a nuisance and illegally dumped on private property. He, as I would understand it, had a right to remove unwelcome items from his private property. Am I missing something here? This has turned into a whole case of vandalism against my friend and his attorney is talking about a plea - I think it should be thrown out, but my friend, still drinking, is a terrible advocate for himself. Not only did these people trespass and litter on his property, but they had my friend arrested - hand cuffed, put in jail. His father had to bail him out, his name was in the local paper for the charges, and he has had to pay a $3,000 retainer to an attorney. That attorney is missing the point here that all my friend was doing was removing abandoned belongings from his own patio and disposing of them. All I can find online about this topic is reserved to articles about disposing of the abandoned property of tenants and evicting tenants. These folks were not tenants, were uninvited and were there less than a day.