CTA passengers reportedly took matters into their own hands when a rider was robbed on their Brown Line train near Southport on Thursday evening, police said.
Officers were called to the train station at 7:06 p.m. after 911 callers reported that a passenger had been robbed on board a train. Cops arrived to find the alleged victim and a good Samaritan detaining 18-year-old Jakolbi Lard on the platform.
According to a police department spokesperson, Lard stole a 55-year-old man’s phone on the train and then battered a witness who came to the victim’s aid. Lard also battered the victim when the man tried to get his phone back, the spokesperson said.
Two other men who were reportedly involved in the mugging got away.
Prosecutors charged Lard with felony robbery and two felony counts of aggravated battery. Bail information was not immediately available, however, Lard is not in the Cook County Jail as of Sunday evening, according to online records.
Lard’s father, Charles, was the oldest of 21 people to die in the E2 nightclub tragedy in 2003, according to a contemporaneous Chicago Tribune report.
On Saturday, detectives tracked down one of the other alleged robbers, 19-year-old Meleh Jackson of River North. He is charged with robbery and aggravated battery in connection with the incident.
Jackson was supposed to be on electronic monitoring for a pending domestic violence case at the time of the robbery. He is also on probation for theft in a case that began as a robbery charge.
Judge David Navarro ordered Jackson held without bail.
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