A woman who was accused of committing three separate attacks on the Red Line during a surge of violence aboard the CTA train system earlier this year has reached a plea deal with prosecutors.
Tatyona Davis, 20, was accused of three separate attacks in under a week while she was already on a recognizance bond for allegedly robbing a Wicker Park grocery store and another recognizance bond for shoplifting.
Police arrested Davis on February 24 after she allegedly pepper-sprayed a woman who told her to stop throwing food at another passenger on a Red Line train near the State-Chicago station.
While she was in custody, investigators learned that prosecutors recently approved charges against her in two earlier attacks.
In one case, Davis was accused of pepper-spraying and trying to rob a 20-year-old woman on an escalator at the Clark-Division Red Line station February 23. The victim told police someone came up behind her on an escalator, sprayed her with pepper spray, and tried to steal her bag. During the attack, the offender began screaming for help to confuse witnesses into thinking that she was the victim, police said.
The offender then pulled out a “long, shiny object” and stabbed the woman in her chest, causing a puncture wound, and ran out of the station, according to police.
An ambulance transported the victim to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition. Police searched for the offender but came up empty-handed.
Davis was also charged with battering and trying to rob a woman on an escalator at a Loop Red Line station on February 21.
That victim, age 25, told police she saw two women “being rowdy” on the train shortly before she exited at the Lake station. As the woman went up the escalator, she felt someone in her pocket and turned around to see the two “rowdy” females immediately behind her. The women turned around and ran down the “up” escalator with the victim’s phone.
She chased after the two offenders, yelling at them to drop her phone. They did. And one of them pepper-sprayed her and punched her in the face two times when she tried to pick it up, according to police. The victim declined medical attention.
At the time of the alleged Red Line attacks, Davis was free on two separate recognizance bonds for other pending criminal cases:
In one case, prosecutors alleged that Davis displayed a kitchen knife and pepper-spray while lunging at an employee who tried to prevent her from shoplifting a bottle of Jack Daniel’s at Jewel-Osco, 1341 North Paulina, on Feb. 9.
Police said they recovered a 6-inch kitchen knife, a 3-inch paring knife, and pepper-spray from Davis during her arrest.
In the other, a Target employee detained Davis after she allegedly stole $789 worth of clothing from the retailer’s location at 2650 North Clark on January 14.
While the value of the allegedly stolen merchandise is more than twice Illinois’ $300 felony threshold, prosecutors refused to filed felony charges, police said.
Davis has cleared all of the matters up by pleading guilty to two counts of aggravated battery in a public place. She received a pair of two-year sentences to be served concurrently.
After receiving credit for the time she spent in jail before sentencing and the state’s standard 50% reduction for good behavior, she is scheduled to be paroled on February 19, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.
