Man charged with driving aggressively across Chicago golf course, hitting golfer
A man has been charged with two felony counts after police said he plowed across a golf course on Chicago's Northwest Side this week and hit a golfer.
Tory L. Gardner, 30, of Cicero, is charged with aggravated battery to a senior citizen with great bodily harm and unlawful use of a weapon — as he is accused of waving a knife around upon getting out of his vehicle, Cook County Forest Preserve police said.
Police said Gardner drove black sport-utility vehicle erratically onto the Billy Caldwell Golf Course, at 6150 N. Caldwell Ave. in the Forest Glen neighborhood, around 5:30 p.m.
Ed Waters was playing on the course at the time.
"He's weaving in between trees, flying down fairways, driving on greens," said Waters. "I finished on a green with tire tracks on it."
Police said the SUV struck a 70-year-old man who was playing golf on the fifth hole. The victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he remained hospitalized in the intensive care unit Wednesday.
As the police were called, an employee trailed the SUV in another vehicle, trying to stop the reckless driver.
Waters said the driver eventually got out of the car with a knife in his hand, only to be approached by another player who tried to help.
"This guy grabbed two stakes and he was swinging them, swinging them like nunchakus, at the guy. Then the dude with the knife kind of backed off," he said.
Gardner was arrested by Forest Preserve police, and remained in custody late Wednesday pending a bond hearing.
