A man has received three years of mental health probation for battering and robbing a blind man at the Roosevelt Red Line station on October 19, 2020.
Denzel Mukes, 31, was on bail for aggravated battery of a CTA employee when he jumped the 62-year-old victim in the station’s pedestrian tunnel around 7:20 a.m.
Prosecutors said CTA video showed Mukes walking up behind the victim as the man walked with a cane inside the station. He allegedly reached into the man’s pockets, but the victim realized what was happening, and the two began to struggle until the victim fell to the floor.
Mukes then pulled on the victim’s tote bag, dragging him across the floor until Mukes gained control of the bag, prosecutors said. A witness followed Mukes onto a CTA bus and helped police locate him after the robbery. Officers said Mukes had the victim’s bag when they arrested him, and he admitted to the crime.
Mukes pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery of a handicapped person and received his sentence from Judge Joseph Claps, according to court records. He was on bail for battering a CTA bus driver at the time of the robbery. The status of that case was not immediately available.
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