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CHICAGO (CBS) — It has been a violent week for passengers on CTA trains – with attacks and armed robberies having happened on two consecutive nights.
As CBS 2’s Jermont Terry reported Thursday night, it is all leaving many to question just how safe they are while they are on board.
Overnight Wednesday into Thursday, someone was robbed on the Red Line near the 47th Street station along the Dan Ryan Expressway. But the victim did not find a police officer until the train pulled into the Roosevelt station four miles to the north.
The Roosevelt stop is pretty well lit. But these attacks are happening at all hours.
Mimi Sarne was also attacked recently, on a Red Line subway platform right downtown.
“State Street’s not a great street for me anymore,” she said.
Sarne will stick to waiting on the CTA bus, since she is no longer comfortable riding the ‘L’ at all.
“Because people are continuing to get robbed,” she said.
And indeed, Sarne unfortunately knows firsthand. As she waited on the Jackson Red Line platform at State Street and Jackson Boulevard at 2:30 p.m. at the start of the year, she fell prey.
“And all of sudden, he comes from the side, pulls me – and immediately, I’m down,” she said, “and then (he) just drags down two flights of stairs to the Blue Line.”
Sarne’s attacker ran away only when passengers on the platform stepped in.
“And thankfully, six other guys saw what was going on and came down the stairs,” she said.
After riding the CTA since the 80s, Sarne is not ready to give up completely.
“But the ‘L,’ until they have police down there or some semblance, I’m not going down there,” Sarne said. “It just doesn’t feel safe to me.”
And it’s not just her gut. When CBS 2 dug into the data, it turned out there have already been 55 violent attacks on the ‘L’ system this year. Last year in the same time period, there were 60, but consider this – five years ago, there were only 36 in the same time period.
Violent attacks consist of assault, battery, sexual assault, and robbery.
“Whatever they’re doing, the CTA – it’s not working,” Sarne said.
This week, there were four separate attacks reported along CTA train lines. The most recent was the aforementioned one on the Red Line on Wednesday night, where the trio robbed the man at gunpoint and he flagged down officers at the Roosevelt station.
Two men – ages 18 and 44 – were also robbed and beaten on a Red Line train at the Chicago Avenue stop Tuesday night.
On Monday morning around 9 a.m., a 30-year-old man was pistol-whipped after getting into a quarrel at the Grand Avenue station on the Red Line. Police also said shots were fired during the incident, but no one was hit.
And every time Sarne hears of more victims, she said, “It makes me sick, just because I feel for that person.”
We reached out to the CTA to see if ridership has fallen off or been maintained with these attacks. They did not get back to us.
Police have not made an arrest in this week’s attacks.
Source: ChicagoCBS
