Man Says He's Done Giving To Panhandlers After Attack
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Lakeview man says he's done giving money to panhandlers, after he was attacked and knocked to the ground by a beggar who didn't think $2 was enough.
As WBBM Newsradio's Mike Krauser reports, the 32-year-old man was taking a Red Line 'L' train around 6:15 p.m. Sunday, when Timothy Anderson, 30, began panhandling on the train.
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Anderson addressed everyone in the train car, and said he needed $150 to help pay for his wife's health problems, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The man, who asked not to be identified, told the Tribune he left $2 on a seat for Anderson as he left the train at the Belmont stop, and the money fell to the floor.
Anderson followed the man out of the train and asked if he had left him the money, which the man said he had, the Tribune reported. Then, the man told the newspaper, the next thing he knew he was being sucker punched.
Police say Anderson punched the man in the head, causing him to strike his head on the ground.
The man told the Tribune he was knocked unconscious and woke up in a pool of his own blood.
Police were called, and several bystanders chased the panhandler down. Anderson was caught by police a few blocks away in the 3100 block of North Clark Street.
The victim, who was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center for a cut to the head and other facial injuries, positively identified Anderson as the man who got money from him, then punched him, police said. The victim ended up needing 15 stitches in his cheek.
He now tells the Tribune he will no longer give money to panhandlers; only to foundations.
Bond for Anderson, of the 3200 block of West Fulton Street, was set Tuesday at $150,000 on a charge of felony aggravated battery, the Tribune reported. He yelled at the judge as Cook County sheriff's deputies took him away after his bond hearing, the newspaper reported.
Panhandling is not allowed on CTA trains. A recorded message that plays on every 'L' line reminds passengers that violating this rule is grounds for arrest in itself.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
