A Chicago man recorded himself fatally stabbing a sleeping passenger on a CTA Blue Line train in the Loop last Saturday morning, then filmed the aftermath as the dying man was discovered by transit security officers, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Demetrius Thurman, 21, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Dominique Pollion, who was found unresponsive on a Blue Line train at the Clark-Lake station around 2:17 a.m. Prosecutors said there is no known relationship between the men, and the two did not have any interactions before the attack.
Pollion was sleeping on the train with his head resting against the window when Thurman approached him from behind and began recording on his phone. CTA surveillance footage and Thurman’s phone video show Thurman stabbing Pollion once in the chest near his heart and a second time in his abdomen, Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Pekara said in a detention filing. After the attack, Thurman allegedly turned the phone camera to face himself, directly capturing his own face in the video.
Pollion woke up screaming and backed away down the aisle before collapsing, according to Pekara.
Thurman walked to a different train car but returned to record again after the train stopped at the Clark-Lake station. Prosecutors say he filmed Pollion lying in the aisle as security officers responded, then turned the camera back on himself and stated “somebody got his a**” before leaving the area.
Pollion was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead from the two stab wounds.
Chicago police detectives fed CTA video images through a Secretary of State facial recognition database to identify Thurman, Pekara said. Cops arrested him Sunday at Union Station.
A search warrant executed on his cellphone allegedly revealed the recordings he made of himself stabbing Pollion and filming afterward, as well as photos of other passengers sleeping on the train.
Pekara said Thurman admitted to stabbing the victim and identified himself in multiple still images from before, during, and after the attack.
Judge Susana Ortiz detained Thurman pending trial.
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