Driving to work on Tuesday, North Chicago Mayor Leon Rockingham Jr. saw a toolbox fall off the back of a truck on Argonne Drive, near City Hall. He made a U-turn, put it in the trunk of his car and drove off to find the driver.
“He wasn’t going that fast, but I couldn’t find the truck,” Rockingham said. “I had a staff meeting. I told my staff I wanted to find the owner.”
Hombre Darby, the city’s communications coordinator, posted a picture of the toolbox on social media and within hours, the owner was located and eventually reunited with his toolbox and the thousands of dollars worth of tools inside.
Help also came from state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, who saw the social media post. She said she recognized the toolbox as one given to people in a program at The Community Works in Waukegan upon completion of the course.
“I saw the post and recognized the toolbox,” Mayfield said. “I knew it was one of her graduates,” she added, referring to Community Works founder and Executive Director Yvette Ewing. “I tagged everyone I could.”
Through a lot of back and forth on social media, Darby learned the toolbox belonged to Marcos Vazquez-Escobedo, a large machine and auto mechanic from Highwood.
Vazquez-Escobedo was reunited with his toolbox Wednesday at North Chicago City Hall after receiving a call informing him Rockingham had found it, initiated a search and brought it to City Hall.
While driving near the intersection of Argonne and Lewis Avenue, Rockingham said he saw a truck with the tailgate open going east on Argonne. He spotted the toolbox near the tailgate and saw it fall to the pavement.
“I got out of my car, picked up the toolbox and put it in my trunk,” he said. “It was heavy. By the time I got going, he was out of the area.”
When Rockingham got to his staff meeting, the first order of business was the toolbox. He told his staff about it, and his desire to see the owner get it back. He knows how important tools are to a person in the trades. Darby sent a news release and began a social media campaign to find the owner.
Taking a look at the contents of the toolbox, Rockingham said he saw an assortment of tools. There were several power drills, a power saw, wrenches, and other items that an auto mechanic would use.
“It looked like the tools could be worth $4,000 to $5,000,” Rockingham said. “There were tools like a mechanic would use to charge a battery. I knew someone needed those tools. I heard from Rita Mayfield, and she said she thought she knew who owned it.”
Rockingham did not open the toolbox out of curiosity. He said that before anyone came to City Hall to claim the box and its contents, they would have to describe it all in detail, including the brand of the tools.
By Wednesday morning, Vazquez-Escobedo called, and Rockingham said he identified the make of the box and gave a detailed description of the drills, saws, wrenches and other items inside. He quickly came to City Hall to retrieve it.
“He was very grateful to be getting it all back,” Rockingham said. “He’s an auto mechanic, and the tools are vital to his work.”
Rockingham said he felt good about reuniting Vazquez-Escobedo with his tools. He hopes the goodness of his action will result in more beneficial behavior to others in the future.
“This was kind of like paying it forward,” Rockingham said. “If he lost those tools, he would have been out the $4,000 he paid for the tools, and another $4,000 to replace them. That’s $8,000 he would have lost. I was happy to see he got his tools back.”
Vazquez-Escobedo could not be reached for comment.
