Posted on 06/09/2014 6:16:29 AM PDT by csvset
Lyric Opera of Chicago stagehands found themselves in the middle of some real-life drama just outside their doors last month when they came to the aid of a tourist being pummeled in broad daylight.
Police say Mark Ball, 50, allegedly began beating a 27-year-old Boston man — for no apparent reason — near 20 W. Wacker about 2:30 p.m. on May 28.
For Robert Hartge, a laid-back day — the last of the season at the Lyric — was suddenly turned upside down in an instant. Standing inside the opera’s glass doors on Wacker Drive with other stagehands, Hartge noticed a man, dressed like a delivery driver, attacking a man half his size.
“We just saw a man walk by and the assailant for no apparent reason just grabbed him and socked him,” Hartge, 43, of Hanover Park said, noting that was their cue: “We came running out fast and about four of us tried to break it up. He was actually going at him, [the victim’s] cellphone had fallen down and his Starbucks went off flying.”
Hartge was able to grab the victim and bring him into the Lyric building while using a work walkie-talkie to signal for help. But he went back out to follow Ball so he wouldn’t get away.
“He just walked away like nothing had happened,” Hartge said of Ball, who was dressed in brown pants, a brown shirt and a brown hat and had a traveling bag with him.
Hartge followed him for about a block and was able to flag transit police officers, who were able to hold him until Chicago Police arrived.
The victim was bloody and battered by the time he got to the hospital, with a broken nose, multiple cuts and bruising to his face and body, police said.
The man told police he was walking on the sidewalk when Ball began following him. He tried to change direction at Washington and Canal to steer him away but Ball became combative and hit him in the face. The man fell to the ground but Ball continued to hit him by kicking him in the face and body as he laid on the ground curled up in a defensive position, yelling for help, according to the police report.
Ball is charged with felony aggravated battery in a public space. A Cook County judge ordered he be held in lieu of $100,000 bail. Ball has a lengthy criminal history, including a felony aggravated battery to a government employee charge in 2001, a 2011 felony charge for allegedly threatening a public official and several other battery charges.
Reached by phone, the victim said he was in Chicago for a vacation, and said he was recovering at home in Boston.
Hartge said he was disheartened that others didn’t stop for help.
“When we looked up, there were people everywhere. They just seemed like they were acting like nothing was happening. Their blinders were on. We were shocked that nobody even walked up to us and asked what was going on,” Hartge said.
Hartge said he’s glad he raced to action.
“I’m just tired of hearing about these people. Of all the crime and people getting away like that,” Hartge said. “We weren’t about to let people do that.”
Email: tsfondeles@suntimes.com
Twitter: @TinaSfon
Mark Ball, 50, was charged in connection with the beating of a tourist near the Lyric Opera in late May. Stagehands intervened and helped the injured victim. | Mugshot provided by the Cook County Sheriff's Office
No mention of the victim's race. Knockout game? Robbery apparently wasn't the motivation.
I'm glad that Mr. Hartge took the time to get involved.
Nice job, stagehands.
// “He just walked away like nothing had happened,” Hartge said of Ball, who was dressed in brown pants, a brown shirt and a brown hat and had a traveling bag with him. //
What can brown do for you?
/
Another weak excuse to put a black man in jail /liberal
I knew even without the picture. Whenever there’s a “random attack” for “no apparent reason,” it’s race-related. And when race is carefully not mentioned, the perp is black.
Good job Lyric guys!
yeah perp probably didn’t like white men drinking starbucks
I walked into an urban court house and spoke to one of the security guards who glared at me resentfully and refused to banter like the others..........treated me like I am his oppressor
‘scuse me but I believe my tax dollars go into the pot that his checks come from, how is that an oppressor
If you want to vacation, stay away from the big cities — and sure as he11 don’t live there.
Oh, I forgot: nothing wrong with drugs.
A perfect observation...but then what else would I expect from ya? :o)
Not true. I live in a big city but am not stupid.
I STAY away from those parts of town where the drug dealers, pimps and prostitutes abound. It's not rocket science; it's common sense.
Crime happens everywhere in this world but it happens MORE in some places than others...so I stay away from the high crime areas.
My daddy taught me to avoid STUPID.
“Police say Mark Ball, 50, allegedly began beating a 27-year-old Boston man...near 20 W. Wacker...”
Is this a joke or is truth stranger than fiction?
You live in a big city? I thought you lived on a mountain. :)
I DO live on a hill, in a big city. Our "hill" is almost 800 feet high. I would call it a "mountain" but those folks in the Himalayas call anything UNDER 14,000 feet "foothills."
It's all perspective, innit?
You are of course quite right.
I’ve always found it odd that criminals are so territorial, seldom leaving their neighborhood to prey on those who presumably have more money and less likelihood of being on their guard.
I am, of course, glad that they are, it’s just always seemed odd to me that a 10-minute drive in a car creates such an enormous difference in the crime rate.
How many of his dogs would you shoot?
Ball: Rocket Surgeon?
That Mark Cuban was sooooo racist, wasn’t he, crossing the street to avoid an urban attacker
Would like to point out that the article doesn’t specify the race of the victim. While this usually means he is white, we can’t logically just assume it as fact.
““Police say Mark Ball, 50, allegedly began beating a 27-year-old Boston man...near 20 W. Wacker...””
ALLEGEDLY? The victim had “alleged” broken bones and contusions too!
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