Welcome to Chicago -- now give me that iPhone

By Rosemary Regina Sobol


By Rosemary Regina Sobol
Tribune reporter
July 21, 2013


Two visitors to Chicago received a rude welcome to the city Friday when one was robbed by a group of city teens and the other was punched while trying to help, officials said.

The two visitors – a 15-year-old Florida girl and a 51-year-old Michigan woman – were both walking on the Mag Mile Friday evening when the older woman was robbed of her iPhone by a group of eight juveniles, officials said.

The woman who was robbed, who wanted to be identified only by her first name Tammy and did not want her hometown published, said she was visiting Chicago to see relatives and to run the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon Sunday. She checked into a hotel and she, her sister, and their 70-year-old mother went out shopping.

"We had only been in town four hours and I got robbed," Tammy said with the hint of a laugh during a telephone interview Saturday evening. "Welcome to Chicago."

According to a police report, about 7 p.m. Friday in the 700 block of North Michigan Avenue, the teens grabbed and held Tammy while one of the teens took her iPhone from her pocket.

After feeling her iPhone being pulled from the pack pocket of her jean shorts, Tammy grabbed the boy who took it by the backpack and held on until police got there two or three minutes later.

"He just kept saying, ‘We didn't take your phone, you white b------, leave us alone,' '' said Tammy.

"I don't think it was racial. I just think they targeted anyone whose phone they could get.''

The Good Samaritan from Florida, during a telephone interview Saturday afternoon, said she was with her mother and had been taking a stroll on Michigan Avenue to look at the shops when they noticed three women, two of whom appeared to be in their 40s or 50s and one who looked to be in her 60s or 70s.

They were about 15 feet behind when they noticed three boys "creeping toward" the women, and one of the boys appeared to gesture to someone else, said the 15-year-old Florida girl.

"All of a sudden seven more teens came and got close to the women,'' she said.

Then she noticed one of the boys ripping an iPhone from a pocket of one of the three women, so forcefully that the victim said: "Give it back,'' but they denied they had it, said the girl.

"The rest of them swarmed around her to disorient her,'' and began to become more physical and push the women against a small metal fence around some shrubs, the girl said.

With a rush of adrenaline, the Florida girl said she decided to step in, against her mother's wishes.

"They felt endangered, but I'm a person who tries to help and I wanted to help the lady,'' she said. "My mom tried to stop me three times."

The Florida girl screamed at them: "Give her back her phone,'' and a teen girl yelled back that they didn't have it.

"That's when the girl charged at me'' and punched her, hitting the Florida girl's head and ear, causing a big bump, bruising and swelling, she said.

Passersby noticed the ruckus and called police, who got there soon and arrested the teens, she said. Police asked her if she wanted an ambulance but she declined and placed ice on her wound.

The victim, who was scratched during the incident and had some bleeding, was "very pleasant'' and spoke to the girl afterwards. "She was thanking me and was very kind,'' the girl said.

"We were so grateful that she helped," Tammy said.

The Florida girl said she's never done anything like this before but said did not hesitate or think about the consequences.

"I wasn't really thinking about what might happen; I just wanted to help her,'' the teen said.

Her mother was relieved she wasn't badly hurt but was very upset that it could happen over "a phone'' in Chicago, where she lived for more than 20 years, worked and went to college.

"I'm very proud of her,'' her mother said of her daughter.

Tammy still has not gotten her iPhone back, though. She said her 21-year-old son was trying to track where the phone was and found it had "pinged" somewhere on Chicago’s South Side.

They had also placed an alert onto the stolen iPhone with a message that asked anyone who found the phone to call another number so it could be returned. On Saturday morning, her son received a call from someone asking for his help in turning on the phone. Tammy said she believed the caller was someone who'd purchased the stolen phone.

"The person who they sold it to tried to activate it and wanted my son to help turn it on,'' Tammy said. "He said you need to do the right thing and turn it in."

She has not gotten her phone back.

Despite the incident, which left her a bit shaken, the Florida teen said she still "loves" Chicago. The mother and daughter asked not to be identified and asked that their hometown not be identified either.

"After this incident, I'm a little hesitant (on visiting again), but I think this could happen anywhere and I think it makes me aware of the dangers that lie in the streets,'' said the girl, who described herself as "street savvy.''

"It's an eye opener,'' Tammy said of the attack. "I'm from (didn't want to disclose city) and we have crime rates out there too...it's just...I mean I had my backpack on, tight, and it still happened.''

Two 15-year-old girls, a 14-year-old girl, a 13-year-old girl, three 15-year-old boys and a 16-year-old boy were arrested in the incident and charged with robbery, police said.

The names of the eight people arrested were not disclosed because they are juveniles, but they all are from Chicago, police said.

One of the 15-year-old girls arrested in the incident – the one who punched the Florida teen who tried to help – also was charged with battery, and one of the boys was additionally charged with theft because police said he had another person's iPhone that had been either lost or stolen earlier Friday at North Avenue Beach.

Police said one of the boys arrested was found with a black iPhone, which he claimed belonged to his mother, but police found it really belonged to a person who told police he'd either lost it or it had been stolen earlier that day on North Avenue Beach. That boy was charged with theft of lost or mislaid property, police said.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...942,full.story