A Cicero man has a date with a judge after a driver spotted him stowing a most unusual little item in his trunk in Berwyn.

A driver out shortly after 6 p.m. on Aug. 31 called Berwyn police after seeing a man stop his car at a red light at Ridgeland Avenue and Cermak Road. The driver reported that the man hopped out, and put a dog in his trunk.

Hanging out of the trunk when Officer John L. Scardina arrived was a blue, cable-style dog leash. At the other end of that leash sat a full-grown beagle inside of the trunk, which Scardina immediately scooped up.

Jose L. Correa, 41, of 3515 S. 65th Place, was charged with confinement of an animal in a motor vehicle, driving without a license, driving without insurance and driving without a seat belt, police reports show.

“The dog appeared to be in good health,” although it was breathing heavy, police reports said.
Correa could not be reached for comment.

Berwyn Police Chief William Kushner said police usually receive a couple of tips each week about potential animal abuse cases.

“Rarely do we get calls of people putting animals in the trunk,” he said.

Kushner, a former Chicago Police officer who worked as a sergeant in the gang tactical unit and has served in the organized crime unit, said he knew a drug dealer years ago who put a pit bull into his trunk. When police would stop him and open the trunk to search it, the pit bull would spring up. But in Berwyn, most people are cited with local ordinance violations.

“Most of the stuff we have, I don’t think is willful mistreatment. It’s carelessness,” Kushner said.
Correa is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. Oct. 8 in Cook County Circuit Court in the Maybrook courthouse, Room 101.