Teen girl charged with attack, robbery of TV host Will Clinger released on electronic monitoring
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 15-year-old girl charged in connection with the attack and robbery of TV host and actor Will Clinger last month has been released on electronic monitoring.
The girl was placed on electronic monitoring after making a court appearance on one count of robbery and two counts of robbery of a senior citizen for three separate attacks in March and April.
Police have said the girl and a 17-year-old boy were charged in the April 25 attack on Clinger at the Addison Street Red Line stop near Wrigley Field. Clinger is the former host of the WTTW-Channel 11 program "Wild Chicago" and the current host of "Wild Travels."
The day after that attack, Clinger told CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov he never saw the attack coming.
"I was definitely taken by surprise, Dana – in a big way," Clinger said.
Clinger shared a picture of himself in the hospital and talked to Kozlov by phone – while waiting for a second CAT scan after being hit in the head.
He said he ran after a pair who suddenly reached out and grabbed his phone as he sat on the train. They ran as the doors opened at Addison, and he ran after them.
"There must have been a second guy next to the other door who got out and waylaid me with a pipe or something as I was chasing, because all I remember is running and suddenly falling – and I don't even remember hitting the pavement," Clinger said.
That is the last he remembers before waking up in the hospital with a brain bleed and contusion.
Clinger hosted the popular Channel 11 show "Wild Chicago" for about 11 years - taking over from original host Ben Hollis in 1992, and continuing until 2003. He first co-hosted the show with Laura Meagher, then hosted solo along with a team of local actors who served as "Wild Correspondents."
Clinger's fiancée, Lauralynn White, declined comment on the charges, or on the court ruling releasing the 15-year-old girl charged with his attack on electronic monitoring.
Meantime, that girl also faces charges in the March 21 robbery of a 74-year-old man at the Fullerton station on the Red Line, and in an April 25 robbery of a 28-year-old woman at the Thorndale stop on the Red Line.
The 17-year-old boy charged in Clinger's attack also is accused of robbing a 33-year-old man on April 13 at the Harrison station on the Red Line, and robbing a woman on the same day in the 1800 block of West Howard Street, about a block away from the Howard stop on the Red Line.
A 15-year-old boy also is charged in the two April 13 robberies.
Their court information was not immediately available.