CTA sued over homeless man's beating death; former worker charged in murder
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The family of a homeless man who allegedly was beaten to death by a CTA employee last year filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the mass transit agency on Tuesday.
The lawsuit, filed in Cook County Circuit Court, claims that the CTA was aware of complaints about the employee's behavior with riders before the attack.
On March 25, 2023, 54-year-old Kevin Powell was found unresponsive on the landing of a stairwell inside the LaSalle station on the CTA Blue Line.
Police said CTA customer service employee Emmet Richardson, 40, was caught on video beating Powell to death. Cook County prosecutors said the beating lasted more than an hour.
Video footage of the attack showed Powell did not fight back.
The Powell family's lawsuit claims he had fallen asleep while sitting on the LaSalle station platform around 2 a.m. on the day of the attack, leaning against a wheelchair full of his belongings. Richardson - who was on duty at the time - came up, kicked the wheelchair, and then grabbed Powell and pushed him onto an escalator.
At the top of the escalator, Richardson pulled Powell backward by the hood of his jacket, pushed Powell over the escalator railing, then dragged him across the platform floor, and hit Powell with a cardboard drink container, according to the lawsuit.
Richardson later dragged Powell to the top of the stairs, grabbed his feet, and flipped him over, sending him tumbling down the stairs before pouring bottles of water on him, the lawsuit claims. Richardson then propped Powell up against the railing at the bottom of the stairs and repeatedly beat Powell in the face and head before grabbing him by the head and tossing him down a second flight of stairs.
The lawsuit claims Richardson later called 911 and falsely claimed he found Powell unresponsive with drug paraphernalia around him and later told police he was helping Powell up the stairs when Powell passed out. Police did not find any drug paraphernalia.
Powell was later pronounced dead at 4:38 a.m., and an autopsy determined he died from a drug overdose and the stress of the attack, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also claims the CTA had received complaints about Richardson's conduct toward customers before the attack, and he had twice been warned by a manager "about his negative treatment of customers and poor attitude."
"This man's life mattered, and the fact that he was down on his luck, the fact that he was in addiction, the fact that he was homeless doesn't strip him of his basic humanity," Powell family attorney Lance Northcutt said.
Three days after the beating, Richardson was charged with aggravated battery. Three months later, the charges were upgraded to first-degree murder.
The CTA removed Richardson from his post immediately after the attack, and the transit agency no longer employs him.
The CTA declined to comment on the lawsuit, but after Powell's death, officials called Richardson's actions "absolutely reprehensible."