A Chicago man is being held in lieu of $100,000 bail after he allegedly pepper-sprayed his third CTA bus of the year. Cook County Judge John Lyke also ordered 46-year-old Erick Robie to stay away from CTA property if he can post a 10% deposit bond.
“You gotta walk, or get a car, or Uber or something,” Lyke said.
The first attack was reported back on March 31. In that case, a CTA bus driver reported being pepper-sprayed by a passenger as she drove a #22 Clark bus near Devon Avenue in Edgewater. Robie was arrested nearby after the driver identified him as the assailant, according to CPD records.
But he was only charged with simple battery, and he was released from the police station on a recognizance bond, police records show.
Then, early on September 2, a CTA bus driver was pepper-sprayed by a passenger at the Jefferson Park Blue Line station. Robie was arrested when he returned to the station a few hours later and an employee recognized him as the assailant, prosecutors said.
Again, he was charged with simple battery, and he was released from the police station on another recognizance bond.
Twelve days later, around 1:45 a.m. September 14, a CTA bus driver was pepper-sprayed as they drove a #22 Clark bus near Lawrence Avenue in Uptown. The driver later identified Robie as the attacker in a photo lineup, prosecutors said.
This time, the state charged him with felony aggravated battery of a transit employee, and police caught up with him Saturday to face the allegations.
Unlike the previous two cases that saw him being released from police stations, Robie was taken to face a judge for a bond hearing Sunday. Unfortunately for him, his date was with Lyke, who has a reputation for being the least-lenient of the county’s six bond court judges.
In addition to the six-figure bail amount Lyke handed down for the latest allegations, Robie will need to settle a $5,000 bail for a separate arrest warrant before he walks free.