Update: Charges have been filed. (Story here)
Surveillance video has surfaced showing a group of robbers surrounding and robbing a bicyclist in the Loop on Wednesday. The robbery was one of two muggings of bicyclists that the same crew committed within 10 minutes.
CWBChicago first told you about the robberies on Thursday.
Now, video of one attack has been posted to Twitter by the Chicago Critter account.
The video shows five robbers on Divvy bikes and two men on foot surround the victim in the middle of Madison and Wabash around 11:30 p.m. As the bicyclist tries to get away, one of the men runs up from behind and throws him to the ground.
The victim and the man in the red track suit struggle for control of the bike before the robber pedals away with it.
The same crew targeted another victim within minutes. That victim told police seven males surrounded him and took his Divvy bike on the 100 block of North Dearborn, CPD spokesperson Sally Bown said.
Those offenders struck the bicyclist in the face, knocking him to the ground. They continued to beat the man and one of them rode away westbound with his Divvy bike, Bown said. Other members of the group also reportedly fled on Divvy bikes.
Police found a group of seven teenagers riding Divvy bikes through the street near Wacker and Washington shortly after the second robbery was reported, but the teens scattered when police moved in.
Bown said no arrests had been made.
Wednesday’s robberies are not the first to involve victims being swarmed by a group of Divvy-riding offenders.
Last July, an 82-year-old man was carjacked by a similarly-equipped group in Streeterville.
That crime was also captured on video. But no arrests were ever made.
