P.D./F.D. response in Woodstock

There was a little excitement in the 300 block of South Madison Street in Woodstock this evening. The street was closed off with numerous fire district vehicles and police cars for approximately two hours, according to neighbors.

From one neighbor I learned that a man had run through a yard. The police caught him, and he may have dropped or thrown away some substance that caused the fire district to worry about air contamination. He told me there was both a K-9 response and a Haz-Mat response. The street was blocked off with yellow fire-line tape near the north end of the 300 South block.

I walked up to the line and stopped without crossing it, although I could see residents in their front yards farther south. A firefighter asked me to move back toward South Street, which I questioned, since I was outside the taped area and farther away than the residents in their front yards. The firefighter was nice about it, and I reluctantly moved northward. I noticed an off-duty cop there keeping an eye on me as if he was ready to pounce if I didn't move fast enough.

I was able to approach much closer from the south end of the block, where I was not challenged by police or fire personnel. By that time the big fire equipment was departing, but the street was still taped off.

For information, you may want to check the Press Release webpage of the Woodstock Police Department. Go to www.woodstockil.gov, then roll your mouse over City Departments, Police and Crime Stopper Cases/Press Releases/Crime Alerts, and click on the last.