Suspect Charged With Attacking Man, Injuring Cop Long After Pride Parade
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 21-year-old South Side man has been charged with multiple felonies, after allegedly attacking another man, then throwing himself through a glass pane to evade arrest and injuring an officer in the process, near Clark and Belmont several hours after the Gay Pride Parade.
Steven L. Harris, of the 5000 block of South St. Lawrence Avenue, stands charged with one count each of felony criminal damage to property and one count of felony resisting a peace officer, police said.
He is also charged with one count of misdemeanor battery, police said.
Around 2:30 a.m., police were trying to arrest Harris, who was suspected of injuring someone in a fight at Belmont and Sheffield avenues. Early reports said the 31-year-old victim had been stabbed.
Police came after witness Vanessa Ferrin called 911 upon seeing the victim bleeding on the ground.
"I saw a couple people on the ground – perhaps six, four to six – pounding their fists on them," Ferrin said. "When I walked over to the ground, there was just one person on the ground bleeding from the head."
As officers tried to arrest Harris, he escaped and crashed through a pane of glass at the Forever Yogurt shop at 931 W. Belmont Ave., police said. The front window of the shop was boarded up after the incident, but a spray-painted reminder on the boards indicated that it remained open.
The officer suffered a "substantial" laceration on his right hand from a shard of glass that fell after the offender crashed through the window, police said.
The officer was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center after the incident around 2:30 a.m. Monday, police told the Sun-Times Media Wire.
Harris was arrested by another officer and was taken under police guard to Vanguard Weiss Memorial Hospital for treatment, the Chicago Phoenix reported. He was expected to appear in Central Bond Court (Br. 1) at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse later Tuesday.
The revelers reportedly had been hanging around several hours after the Gay Pride Parade just to the east ended around 4 p.m. Sunday.
But police News Affairs told the Phoenix the incidents were not necessarily a result of post-parade crowds, given that it was a beautiful day and large crowds often come to the area.
