3-time burglar charged with two North Side home invasions after jumping from third-floor porch, cops say

Jarvis Brinkley | CCSO

A paroled three-time burglar is accused of committing two armed home invasions in Albany Park this summer after he tried to escape from cops by jumping from a third-floor porch, officials said. The jump didn’t go as he planned.

Jarvis Brinkley, 28, could not appear at his bond court hearing because he was still in St. Francis Hospital with a “severely broken arm” after diving from the porch as cops closed in, a CPD officer told Judge Charles Beach.

Beach set bail for Brinkley at $1 million.

Around 5:40 a.m. on July 25, a man who went to investigate the sound of someone breaking his bedroom door open found Brinkley standing in his apartment with a hammer, Assistant State’s Attorney Darryl Auguste said.

Brinkley swung the hammer at the man, cutting the victim’s hand, and then backed the man into a corner where Brinkley ordered him to surrender his phone and money, according to Auguste.

Police arrived in time to see Brinkley in the hallway, but he fled before officers could arrest him, Auguste said.

Two days later, around 1:15 p.m. on July 27, Brinkley allegedly returned to the same apartment and knocked on the door. He then kicked the door in and confronted the first victim’s roommate with the same hammer, which had distinctive white tape wrapped around the handle, Auguste said.

Brinkley tried to take a TV from the apartment, but he fled in a blue pick-up truck when the second roommate called police, according to Auguste. A witness who was in the apartment during the second home invasion took a picture of Brinkley, and a CPD surveillance camera recorded footage of the blue pickup truck leaving the area, Auguste said.

Police officers recognized Brinkley from the witness’ picture, and detectives included his mugshot in a photo line-up. Both roommates allegedly identified him as the home invader.

A few days ago, Brinkley walked into a store on the same block where the home invasions occurred and tried to sell the clerk some bowling balls, Auguste said. (Yes, we know. This is getting weird. Stay with us.)

When the worker told Brinkley that the store doesn’t buy bowling balls, Brinkley allegedly called the man a “stupid Mexican b*tch” and pulled a hammer out of his shorts.

Brinkley threatened the man with the hammer, but the clerk pulled out a BB gun that he keeps behind the counter, and Brinkley walked out, Auguste said. After breaking the store’s front glass with the hammer, Brinkley fled on a bike, according to Auguste.

The clerk flagged down police, told them what happened, and showed them a picture of the man. The cops recognized the man as the home invader and began searching the area for him, Auguste said.

When they spotted Brinkley in an alley on the 4700 block of North Central Park, Brinkley allegedly scurried up a porch and then jumped from the third floor when cops came after him.

He’s charged with two counts of home invasion with a dangerous weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and criminal damage to property.

Brinkley receive a two-year sentence for burglary in May, but after getting credit for time spent in jail and receiving the state’s standard 50% sentence reduction, he was released from Stateville Correctional Center on May 12 — the same day he arrived, according to state records.

He is currently being held without bail while state authorities consider revoking his parole in light of the new allegations.

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