CHICAGO — Prosecutors have charged a Chicago woman with pushing a Taylor Swift fan onto the Blue Line tracks as the victim headed to one of the superstar’s blow-out concerts at Soldier Field last month.
The 24-year-old Swiftie and her companions were on the Division Blue Line platform around 3:40 p.m. on June 4, waiting for a train to take them downtown.
CTA surveillance video showed 20-year-old Neveah King run down the station’s staircase to the platform and then lunge at the victim, pushing her onto the tracks below, prosecutors said Sunday.
The woman landed on her feet and suffered no injuries. But a Blue Line train entered the station “within seconds” of her getting to safety, an assistant state’s attorney said during King’s bail hearing.
King fled the scene and allegedly pushed another victim down as she exited the station.
Chicago police officers responded to the scene and detained King about 30 minutes after she allegedly pushed the woman onto the tracks. But prosecutors said the victim didn’t file a police report until the next day, presumably because she didn’t want the incident to interfere with her concert plans.
She and other witnesses identified King as the offender in photo line-ups on June 17. Police officers spotted King at the Jackson Red Line station on Saturday and took her into custody.
Judge Charles Beach ordered her to pay a $10,000 bail deposit to go home on electronic monitoring. She is charged with aggravated battery in a public place. Court records show she also has a pending misdemeanor battery case stemming from an incident at the O’Hare Blue Line station earlier this year.