After five people robbed a woman on a Red Line train in September 2024, Chicago police released CTA surveillance images of the suspects and asked the public for help identifying them. In one photo, one of the robbers looked directly into the camera and defiantly extended his middle finger toward the lens. Now, the bird-flipping robber is flying away to prison with a 16-year sentence.
David Mitchell, 19, was on juvenile parole for carjacking and had been adjudicated delinquent multiple times when he joined four other people, including two juveniles, in robbing a 19-year-old woman aboard a Red Line train near the 69th Street station on the evening of September 28, 2024, prosecutors said.
According to police, one of the juveniles pointed a firearm at the woman while Mitchell and the others demanded her belongings, taking her phone, wallet, and backpack. Cops quickly identified and arrested everyone involved except Mitchell. To find him, investigators released CTA surveillance images to the media and asked the public for help. One of those photos showed Mitchell biting his lower lip while staring into the CTA camera and extending his left middle finger toward the lens.
It did not take long for police to identify Mitchell at that point. When cops arrested him, prosecutors said, he had a loaded 9-millimeter handgun in his jacket pocket. Mitchell allegedly claimed he had “found” the gun in a car.
In addition to the CTA robbery, Mitchell was charged with robbing a woman at gunpoint in the 7400 block of South Euclid Avenue on September 11, 2023.
Court records now show Mitchell has pleaded guilty to all of the charges. Judge Neera Walsh sentenced him to 16 years for each robbery, three years for the gun offense, and another three years for aggravated battery of a peace officer, a charge he picked up along the way. All of the sentences will be served concurrently.
Under Illinois law, Mitchell will receive a 50% sentence reduction for good behavior, and court records show he also received 622 days of credit for time spent in the Cook County Jail. That leaves him with about 6 years and 4 months left to serve. The good news? There are plenty of surveillance cameras in prison, so he’ll have ample opportunity to keep practicing his middle finger extensions.
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