A grand jury has approved attempted murder charges against a 19-year-old man who allegedly choked, robbed, and beat a victim with a skateboard during an eight-minute-long attack on the Pink Line in November, according to Chicago police.
We previously told you about the man, Quitone Nash, after he was charged with beating and carjacking a victim in Wicker Park on the day after Thanksgiving. The alleged CTA attack took place before the carjacking.
Prosecutors initially charged Nash with Class X felony armed robbery and aggravated battery in the CTA case on December 18. Now, the grand jury has added attempted murder to the list of charges.
During his bond court appearance last month, prosecutors said Nash and two juveniles approached the victim as they rode the Pink Line near Damen on November 19. According to the state, the victim was sitting alone, looking at his phone, when Nash asked to use the skateboard he had on his lap.
When the victim declined, Nash allegedly grabbed his phone from his hands and one of the juveniles took the man’s skateboard. The trio then embarked on an eight-minute attack during which they all kicked, punched, and beat the victim with his skateboard as the train rolled along its route, prosecutors said. Another passenger who was on the train car exited without trying to help.
According to prosecutors, Nash put the victim in chokeholds from behind at least twice and covered the man’s mouth with his hand to muffle his screams after the victim managed to hit the train’s emergency communication button. At one point, Nash allegedly held the man down while one of the juveniles stole his shoes.
When the train stopped, CTA workers spoke with all three alleged attackers and the victim but did not intervene as Nash and the juveniles boarded a train in the opposite direction with the victim’s backpack, prosecutors said.
CTA surveillance video shows the trio going through the man’s backpack as they rode away from the scene, according to prosecutors. The entire attack was also captured on video.
An ambulance took the man to a hospital for treatment of injuries to his eyes, face, and neck.
Police records show Nash was arrested three times in eleven days during November.
On November 16, police arrested him in connection with a vehicle that had been carjacked, but prosecutors only charged him with theft, and he was released from the station on his own recognizance the next morning.
Two days after he got out, the alleged Pink Line attack took place, but he remained on the loose.
And three days after that, on November 22, he was charged with possessing a stolen motor vehicle. He was released on his own recognizance, according to court records.
Less than a week later, on November 27, he allegedly beat and carjacked a driver who had fallen asleep in a car on the Jewel-Osco parking lot, 1341 North Paulina. Nash and two other men pulled him from the vehicle and began beating him around 1:55 a.m., prosecutors said. They then drove away in his car. But Nash was arrested a short time later.
Prosecutors charged Nash with felony vehicular hijacking, and Judge Charles Beach ordered him held in lieu of $200,000 bail. Another judge subsequently increased Nash’s bail in the carjacking case to $300,000, prosecutors said Friday.
Nash is being held without bail in the attempted murder case.