The man who knocked a woman onto the Red Line tracks at Belmont in 2018 has been sentenced to eleven years in prison.
Melvin Doss pleaded guilty to attempted murder in a deal with prosecutors that resulted in the dismissal of several other felony counts.
After the incident, the victim told CWBChicago that she was on the northbound platform when she saw a man urinating nearby around 4 p.m. on June 1, 2018.
“I walked by him and said, ‘You can’t do that in a bathroom?’”
“He told me to f-ck off. I took a picture of him and he said, ‘I’m going to kill you, b-tch.’ I flipped him off and started walking away.”
Doss punched the 48-year-old victim in the head, causing her to fall onto the L tracks below. Police said the her head struck a rail and she broke her arm by trying to cushion the fall.
“I fell off the platform and landed headfirst on the tracks,” she said. “A bunch of people ran to the edge of the platform, motioning me to go over there so they could pull me up. I was really shaky and couldn’t get up on my own. A couple guys jumped down, helped me up and walked me to the platform.”
By the time police arrived, the offender was gone. “I’d never seen him before,” the woman said. But she still had that picture.
The woman, who lives in Rogers Park, received eight staples to close a head wound and a soft cast was placed on her hand and forearm.
A few days later, police were summoned to the Kimball Brown Line station by a CTA employee who recognized Goss as he rode a train. The transit worker ordered the train to stay in the station until police arrived to take Goss into custody. A source said he was wearing the same hat and jacket seen in the photo that the victim took shortly before she was attacked.
Goss has a significant criminal history, according to state records, including four separate sentences for robberies. Most recently, he completed parole in October 2014 after receiving a 10-year sentence for aggravated robbery. His prison sentences include:
• Ten years for aggravated robbery in 2006
• Eight years for armed robbery-firearm in 2001
• 30 months for theft of more than $100,000 in 2000
• Three years for narcotics in 2000
• Four years for attempted robbery in 1997
• Four years for robbery in 1992
• Three years for receiving-possessing a stolen vehicle in 1992
