CHICAGO (CBS) — CTA Blue Line train service on the Eisenhower Expressway was disrupted Tuesday afternoon and evening after someone was struck on the head with a hammer on a platform.
According to police, at 3:49 p.m., a 31-year-old man was on the platform of the Western Avenue Blue Line station on the Forest Park branch, which runs through the West Side and Oak Park on the median of the Eisenhower Expressway. A woman approached him and took his phone, police said.
The man tried to get his phone back, and the woman began hitting him in the head with a hammer, police reported. The woman hit the man multiple times, and he was taken to Cook County Stroger Hospital with cuts to his head, police said.
According to the Chicago Transit Authority, after the attack, trains in both directions bypassed the Western Station on the Forest Park route.
The shutdown thwarted the original plan to bring two men to the Democratic National Convention. The two men, Robert Allen and Dan Nelson, were on their way to the United Center early Tuesday evening – hoping to hear the speech by former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama.
They had planned to take the Blue Line on the Forest Park branch from Western to the Illinois Medical District stop and then walk a few blocks to the United Center. However, since the Western stop was out of service, the men decided to walk all the way to the United Center – which is nearly a mile from the Western stop.
Allen said he went to the Western station and saw a prepared crime scene.
“I kind of read that and then the cop says, ‘You have to get out of here. This is a crime scene,'” he said.
Nelson expressed hope that the incident would not reinforce the negative perception of Chicago during the DNC.
“It’s just too bad because Chicago doesn’t have the crime rate that everyone thinks it does,” Nelson said. “And since this is happening now, I just hope that’s not the reason. Because the truth is Chicago is a beautiful city and a wonderful place to go. And the public transit is the best I’ve ever seen.”
Some people decided to take public transportation to the DNC on Tuesday evening to avoid the traffic chaos that prevailed the night before – after the agitators broke through a security fence during Protests near the United Center.
No one was arrested in Tuesday night’s attack. The investigation is ongoing with Harrison Area detectives.
It was unclear when the station where the attack took place would reopen.
CHECK: CTA Updates
Tara Molina
