Two teenagers face felony charges after a woman was choked and robbed while riding the Red Line near Belmont on Thursday morning, police said. Cops tracked down the offenders over a mile away by using the city’s vast network of real-time surveillance camera feeds.
The 23-year-old victim was on a northbound train around 10:23 a.m. when a group of four teenagers got on at North-Clybourn and began to harass her, according to a report. Somewhere between the Fullerton and Belmont stations, a 16-year-old boy grabbed the woman by the throat and pinned her to her seat while a 16-year-old girl took her cell phone, said Officer Steve Rusanov, a CPD spokesperson.
The woman reported the crime to a CTA attendant at the Belmont station, and the transit agency determined that the group of teens exited at Sheridan a few minutes later, according to a CPD report.
Cops who were assigned to monitor the 19th District’s camera network quickly spotted the teens standing on the corner of Broadway and Irving Park. Patrol officers detained the group and arrested the two offenders who were identified by the victim.
Prosecutors charged the boy with felony robbery and felony aggravated battery by strangling. The girl is charged with felony robbery. No further information is available about the suspects because juvenile arrest details are shielded by state law. Rusanov said the victim declined medical attention.