Overview
- Video and police accounts show that on Tuesday night, Nov. 3, a man boarded a southbound CTA bus, displayed a handgun and allegedly ordered the driver to keep moving through several red lights.
- A passenger pulled the rear emergency lever to stop the bus, the driver escaped through a side window to get help, and cellphone and bus surveillance footage captured parts of the episode.
- Officers arrested 36-year-old Quentin Lewis after he fled to a running Dodge Ram at a nearby strip mall, recovered a loaded Glock with an extended magazine from the vehicle, and say the vehicle rolled into a CPD squad car during the arrest.
- Prosecutors say the bus driver and a witness identified Lewis in a photo array and charged him with armed kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint, possession of a weapon as a felon, and possession of a stolen vehicle, and a judge ordered him detained pending further proceedings.
- Violence prevention groups and the CTA union have called for stronger protections for transit workers, and advocates plan a news conference near 55th and Pulaski to press city and transit officials for action.