Man charged in recent attacks on older women, including tourist

CHICAGO - A man has been charged with 4 felonies in an incident in which he repeatedly struck a 66-year-old woman at the CTA Green Line station, causing her to fall onto the tracks, Chicago police said.

Police said the woman was on the platform at the CTA Green Line station in the 0-100 block of West Cermak at approximately 6:55 p.m. last Friday when she was punched and shoved by a Chicago man, 32-year-old Gary Coleman. As a result the woman fell onto the tracks and sustained head and arm injuries.

The woman was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital and treated for her injuries.

Coleman was charged with 1 felony count each of Aggravated Battery of a Senior Citizen, Aggravated Battery causing Great Bodily Harm, Aggravated Battery in a Public Place, and Aggravated Battery of a Transit Passenger.

But there's more detail to the story as reported by CWBChicago.^[1]

The man had already been in court last week. For punching a 60-year-old woman in the Loop in a separate incident. That woman fell and was knocked unconscious when she hit her head on the sidewalk.

CWBChicago reported that Judge Gerardo Tristan Jr. sentenced Coleman to eight months conditional discharge for knocking the 60-year-old woman out and Coleman was released last Thursday.

The next day, last Friday, is when the incident with the 66-year-old occurred.

The woman was visiting the city to watch her daughter race in the Chicago marathon and her injuries included a broken right orbital bone, a dislocated wrist, a concussion, and cuts to her forehead.

Judge David Navarro, who ordered Coleman held without bail on the new allegations, noted that, “Fortunately, [the victim] didn’t hit a rail that could have electrocuted her."

Read CWBChicago's reporting here.

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