Muggings in the Sloop - Stay Safe and Be Vigilant

We've received a couple emails and read a couple of reports about crime around the city lately and wanted to do a quick post about them.  A reader writes:

I wanted to inform your readers to be on their guard when walking through grant park at night. Last night, Fri., July 5th, at 10:45p, I was walking right in front of the steps leading to the bridge that goes to the Metra station at 11th and Michigan. The next thing I knew, from behind I was punched in the right jaw. I spun around and saw three people in their early 20's yelling "Give me your s***, M'fer". I ran immediately to Michigan, and they did not pursue as there was enough crowd on the street. I ended up with a sore jaw, bleeding ear and a chipped tooth. 

I walk this park every day to/from work to my home in the sloop. I have filed a police report, but just want fellow residents/visitors to be on the lookout.

Along those lines, the main story on the Tribune last night was about an off-duty police officer who was beaten badly in the 2000 block of South State:

Jimmy Sherlock (via Chicago Tribune)

Chicago police Officer Jimmy Sherlock is recovering at his home after being beaten unconscious while off duty during a robbery in the South Loop that he barely remembers, a frustrating circumstance that has him and his police brethren looking for the public's help. 

"They came from behind; I don't really remember much at all," Sherlock said Monday. "I was knocked out cold."As a reminder be vigilant out there.  

These issues aren't isolated to the South Loop (and obviously a lot worse in some places), but that doesn't mean you should take this news lightly.  Stay safe.

On a related but more positive note, here is a link to a recent story from the Tribune about a man who chased and stopped a robber in the Gold Coast because "I was sick of it".

UPDATE from a reader on 7/9 at 11:45am:

I was just running with my 2 year old and came upon a mugging at 14th and State. A girl, who looked in her early 20s, was mugged at the bus stop by a black male and female. 

A bystander caught the male and pinned him to the ground. The police have him, but the girl got away and the police were looking for her behind the fence there at 14th and state/where some shrubbery is that backs up to the tracks. 

Derrick King (Police photo / July 9, 2013)

ANOTHER UPDATE on a new article on Tribune today.  This is crazy and unfortunate on many many fronts.  Clearly this system isn't working with this guy:

A man who knocked out a woman’s teeth when she refused to give him a cigarette outside a South Loop Jewel has been arrested again -- at the same store, this time for attacking customers with umbrellas, according to police. 

Derrick King pushed a woman inside the store at 1224 S. Wabash Ave. Monday night and began swinging around two umbrellas he’d stolen, police said. King, 51, who listed his address as the Pacific Garden Mission blocks away, was charged with felony retail theft and misdemeanor reckless conduct. 

(Hat tip: TT, ND, VC, KCB!)