- Credibility:
DOWNTOWN — A woman and man were attacked Downtown by a group of people over the weekend, according to an interview with the couple after video of the incident circulated on social media.
The 20-second video posted online, labeled “brag tape” and first reported by crime blog CWB, shows a large group of people surrounding a woman and man in a doorway at 129 N. Wabash Ave. and punching and kicking toward them as someone screams.
At about 8 p.m. Saturday, a 20-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man were walking in the 100 block of North Wabash Avenue when a group of unknown people approached them, police said.
People from the group hit the couple several times before taking their belongings and running away, police said.
The couple was taken to the University of Illinois Hospital with minor injuries. No one is in custody, police said.
The video was posted with a caption across it: “Yay we get active.”
In an interview on Fox News, the man and woman, identified as D.J. and Ashley, said they were Downtown trying to shop and dine when they came across the large group. They had just left Nordstrom, D.J. said, when they were attacked at random and robbed.
“They pushed him, they pushed me,” Ashley recalled. D.J. then asked the group to stop, she said, “and everything went crazy. They said they were going to kill us, they turned around and started fighting …. I got pushed down to the ground.”
Ashley said the crowd swarmed D.J. and he was more injured than she was as a result.
“Everyone went for him … they were jumping him in the middle of the street. It got pretty bad,” Ashley said.
D.J. said he suffered a black eye, his nose is swollen and his shoulder feels dislocated.
“It was absolutely random. We didn’t know anybody, we were just trying to walk through a group of people,” Ashley said.
The group stole the pair’s shoes, phones, an Apple Watch, hat and glasses, they said.
“Cops drove right by it,” D.J. said.
A good Samaritan named Lenora stopped to help the victims after they were attacked, taking them to the hospital and giving them shoes.
The Police Department has launched an internal investigation into the victims’ claim that officers drove by the attack and did not intervene, a spokesperson said.
The video surfaced after youth gatherings Downtown this weekend turned violent, including a shooting that wounded two teens about a block away from where the couple was attacked. A third teen was wounded on the Near South Side.
Videos on social media showed hundreds of young people gathered Friday night near 31st Street Beach, and other videos showed more large groups of people Saturday night Downtown.
The videos showed people fighting, jumping on cars and running in and out of the street.
Nine adults and six juveniles were arrested at the gathering Saturday, officials said. Most of the people arrested faced a reckless conduct charge, but two people were charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, police said.
A 16-year-old was also charged with unlawful use of a weapon, police said.
In response, police announced the return of a curfew for minors at Millennium Park and bag checks at beaches.
The park’s curfew, rolled out last summer after a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot at The Bean, bans people younger than 18 from being in the park without an adult after 6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.
Separately, a 10 p.m. citywide curfew is in effect daily for people 17 and younger. The citywide curfew was moved up last year as the city struggled with shootings.
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