Three men and two women from the South Side face multiple battery charges after they attacked four men on the Halsted Street bar strip early Sunday, prosecutors said.
The victims, all between 25- and 30-years-old and gay, told police that they were on Halsted Street near Aldine when a car carrying four people pulled up and one of the occupants asked to borrow a cigarette around 5:50 a.m. Sunday.
When the men said that they did not have one, the driver pulled the car over and all four occupants got out and started attacking the men, the victims said.
The attack moved west on Aldine and poured into Clark Street, where it crossed paths with a police officer who broadcast a description of the suspects’ car.
Another police unit pulled the vehicle over moments later when the driver blew a red light at Belmont and Lake Shore Drive, police said.
All four men identified the vehicle’s passengers as the people who beat them, police said.
23-year-old Shaquile Fisher, 19-year-old Christen Shield, 27-year-old Ishena Spaulding, and 27-year-old Stephon Walker-Purnell are each charged with four counts of battery, according to court and Chicago Police Department records.
25-year-old Anesia Purnell is charged with three counts of battery, court records show.
Walker-Purnell also received a traffic citation for failure to obey a stop signal.
The victims refused medical treatment.
Images: Chicago Police Department intake photos of (top to bottom): Fisher; Purnell; Shield; Spaulding; and Walker-Purnell
