A 23-year-old man has been detained for allegedly punching a 70-year-old CTA employee in the face, causing the victim to fall from a Blue Line platform and suffer a head injury.
Amir Cordova, 23, jumped the turnstile at the Grand-Milwaukee Blue Line station, 502 North Milwaukee, around 7:12 a.m., according to a Chicago police report. The CTA employee confronted Cordova on the platform moments later.
Cordova allegedly punched the employee in the face, sending him tumbling off the platform and onto the tracks below. Prosecutors said the victim lost a tooth and suffered head injuries from the fall.
Video secured by Chicago Critter showed two passengers jumped onto the tracks to lift the victim back onto the platform as other CTA customers helped from above. The man’s head injury is clearly visible in the footage.
Cops arrested Cordova about three hours later at the UIC-Halsted station, the police report said.
Cordova is charged with three felony counts of aggravated battery and a misdemeanor charge of theft of services for jumping the turnstile.
At a detention hearing Friday afternoon, Judge Rivanda Doss Beal ordered Cordova detained pending trial.
