A Chicago Transit Authority employee has been charged with aggravated battery, accused of beating a 54-year-old man at a Blue Line station who later died, the Chicago Police Department said.
Authorities charged CTA customer service assistant Emmett Richardson, 39, from the Douglas neighborhood on the South Side, in the Saturday attack at the LaSalle Blue Line station.
[ Man dies at Loop Blue Line station; Chicago police probe CTA staffer’s role: CTA, sources ]
“The alleged actions on the part of this CTA employee are absolutely reprehensible,” CTA President Dorval Carter said in a statement. “I am appalled by this person’s alleged behavior, which not only is completely contrary to CTA policies but also showed a clear lack of humanity.”
Richardson is set to appear in bond court Tuesday. CTA spokeswoman Catherine Hosinski said he was hired by CTA in August 2020. Transit agency records show an employee by the name of Emmet Richardson.
Richardson was removed from service without pay “pending further investigation and disciplinary action,” Carter said. Richardson could not be reached for comment.
According to law enforcement sources familiar with the investigation, Richardson confronted the man shortly after 3 a.m. on the CTA platform. Richardson kicked a wheelchair the man had been resting against before the man stood up, the sources said.
The man laid on the ground, then walked toward the station’s escalators and Richardson followed him, the sources said. Richardson then allegedly tried to drag the man past the station’s turnstiles, but the CTA worker lost his balance and fell, according to sources.
Richardson then allegedly tossed the man down some stairs and as the man was lying in a stairwell, Richardson poured water from a bottle in an apparent attempt to wake him up, a source familiar with the investigation said. The CTA worker then hit the man with his hands, sources said.
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Richardson then allegedly pushed the man down more stairs, and at that point, the man appeared motionless, sources said.
During their initial investigation, police spoke with Richardson, but didn’t know his involvement until they viewed video footage of the alleged attack, sources said. He was arrested Saturday afternoon.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office has not publicly identified the man because his next of kin have yet to be notified of his death. The medical examiner’s office had also not revealed the cause of the man’s death, citing pending toxicology studies.
CTA is working with Chicago police as they investigate, the agency said.
“Behavior like this is an insult to the thousands of hardworking and dedicated men and women who serve CTA customers every day,” Carter said.
jsheridan@chicagotribune.com
