The Washington Park community has rallied behind an 11-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually abused on her way home from school along Dulles Elementary School’s Safe Passage route Thursday.
At a news conference outside Chicago police headquarters Tuesday, the girl’s maternal grandmother, Lutia Payne Midcalf, questioned where Safe Passage workers were at the time. The program stations trusted adults near select Chicago Public Schools to ensure children are safe when walking to and from school.
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“Where were they when my grandbaby needed them? Where were they?” she asked.
At 3:30 p.m. Thursday, shortly after school let out, the 11-year-old was walking home when a man approached her, placed his hand over her mouth, and pulled her into an alley in the 6200 block of South Indiana Avenue. He then sexually abused her, police said.
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The girl was able to break free and run away, after which the man fled. A person was caught and turned over to police Monday by community members who saw a man resembling the police sketch that was released last week.
According to family members, police have since let the person go. On Tuesday, the girl’s mother, grandparents and community members demanded police find the alleged abuser.
“He’s made all of the children in this city feel unsafe,” said Andre Smith, an activist with Chicago Against Violence.
Lissy Wakefield, the girl’s mother, dabbed her eyes and held back tears as she spoke to reporters about the nightmares her daughter has been having.
She said she sent her mother a photo of the person that community members had apprehended. The grandmother, in turn, showed the picture to the girl, who broke down crying. “We had to hold her,” said the maternal grandmother.
Midcalf also spoke about the man who police let go.
“I’m not accepting that. I will not accept that. I’m gonna keep going and keep going till we get some type of justice because this is not fair,” she said. “We’re not gonna let them push this under the rug.”
At a CPD news conference later Tuesday morning, Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said “the detective assigned to the case is in contact with the family, and the individual of which they are speaking, he is a suspect. But we’re working with our state’s attorney’s office in order to build a case, which we have to in order to possibly effect an arrest and get to charging.”
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“We do have a sense of urgency,” Superintendent David Brown added. “But we have to get things right. We have to do it right, so that we can have the best chance at getting charges approved by the state’s attorney.”
The principal of Dulles Elementary, Toyia Pullum , wrote a letter to parents and families, saying, “we take all safety concerns very seriously and … we are working with the CPS Office of Safety and Security and CPD to continue to implement additional safety measures to support the safety of our students and staff, including requesting special attention to areas in the vicinity of our school grounds.”
In the CPD community alert sent last week, police described the suspect as an African American male, between 45 and 60, of thin build and about 5-foot-9 with hair that is graying and a mustache or goatee. When the alleged assault occurred, he wore a black shirt with a rip on the right sleeve, black jeans with a silver belt buckle, and black work boots.
But the girl’s mother said the man has since changed his appearance. Nonetheless, she added, her daughter told her the man “smells like baby powder.”
“She said she’ll never forget his face. Ever. He could do whatever he wants to his face — she’ll pick him out,” Midcalf added.
A case such as this is rare, Anika Sterling Florez, community engagement director at the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, told the Tribune over the phone.
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”The majority of cases involving children and adults are situations where the perpetrator and the victim know each other,” she said. But rare cases like this are more often picked up by the media, she added.
”This particular incident happened, to my understanding, to a girl of color on the South Side of Chicago. So it is good that it is getting some media attention because white children and women disproportionately get the most media attention when there is something like this going on,” Sterling Florez said.
Additionally, she said, calling attention to such cases begins a discussion around sexual harm.
During the news conference, the girl’s paternal grandmother, Latoya Smith held a laminated picture of her son — the girl’s father — who was slain in the city in 2012. She said her granddaughter and her family were already traumatized by his death.
“The city of Chicago is failing my family,” she said.
Check back for updates.
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