It’s pretty easy to get away with robbery in Chicago. But your odds diminish slightly if you hang out in front of the local police station while cops are actively looking for you.
Just ask the 17-year-old cops arrested outside the Town Hall (19th) Police District station last night — about 30 minutes after two robbers attacked a 64-year-old man a block away at the Addison Red Line station.
The victim told police the offenders approached him inside the CTA station, 940 West Addison, and demanded his property around 8:45 p.m., CPD said. One robber punched him in the face, which caused him to fall and hit his head on the station wall. EMS took the victim to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in good condition.
Officers in the CTA’s security operations center provided street cops with descriptions of two robbers, including one said to be between 17- and 20-years-old and wearing a blue hoodie that said “Just Do It” on the front.
The same offenders were wanted for another robbery that happened about 45 minutes earlier at the Thorndale station.
At least two Town Hall cops remembered seeing the “Just Do It” guy walking toward the district station before the Addison robbery call came out, according to radio transmissions. And, at 9:19 p.m., a district tactical unit spotted the 17-year-old wearing the same sweatshirt directly outside the police station. They took him into custody.
So far, though, he is not charged with the Addison Red Line attack. He is, however, charged with the Thorndale crime, according to a CPD spokesperson.
In that case, a 28-year-old woman said she was riding a southbound train when two men took her phone and fled the train. She was not injured.
Prosecutors charged the 17-year-old with felony robbery and misdemeanor theft of lost or mislaid property. Detectives are still investigating the Addison Red Line attack.
The second suspect remains at large. He was described as Black male between 17- and 20-years-old wearing a gray hoodie, black pants, black shoes, and a black mask.
