She spurned a man’s advances while she walked to the nearest bus stop so she could get home. She kept looking back after he walked past her and thought he took the rejection well and went about his business. Little did she know that her rejection wo
She spurned a man’s advances while she walked to the nearest bus stop so she could get home. She kept looking back after he walked past her and thought he took the rejection well and went about his business.
Little did she know that her rejection would almost cost her her life.
A 16-year-old West Side girl talked recently to the Defender about the September sexual assault and being left for dead in an alley afterwards.
The teen said she was walking near Chicago Avenue on September 16, a little after 9 p.m. She was with friends and on her way home. She wanted to take the bus home but had just missed one.
Instead of waiting at the bus stop for the next one to come, she decided to walk until one came.
“I didn’t want to stand there by myself, so I kept walking. As I walked down the street, a man walked past me and complimented me and asked if he could talk to me. I told him no and kept walking. I really didn’t keep any eye contact with him,” she told the Defender as her mother sat across from her in their dining room.
Then the man said a few more words to her, she said.
“What? I’m not your type?” the man said, according to the girl.
She said she just kept walking and looking over her shoulder at the same time. It didn’t seem like she was in danger and things got quiet. He was far behind her, but then all of a sudden, his arm was around her neck.
“He came from behind me and kind of put me in a chokehold. He pushed my head up with his arm and it was hard for me to make a sound and sometimes breath,” the girl said, while demonstrating how the man’s arm was once he grabbed her.
She said she could see a worker in a nearby store looking at them, but since she couldn’t make a sound and barely move, it may have appeared that the two were together and there was no need for alarm.
He pulled her into an alley, beat and raped her, and before fleeing, cut her throat and bit her face, the girl said.
“He kept beating me and then he raped me. I tried to fight back, but it didn’t do any good. After a while, I think I passed out. When I woke up, I started walking to get some help. I came out of the alley and was on Chicago Avenue. I was waving my arms because I thought I saw a bus coming,” she said.
The teen’s mother said, according to witnesses, that her daughter was staggering in the street and waving her hands for someone to see her.
The bus had to swerve to miss the teen because she was in the middle of the street. Then, she fell out. The bus stopped, and emergency services were called.
When the girl’s mother arrived at the hospital, she could not recognize her daughter. There must have been a mistake, she thought.
“Her face was so swollen. It looked like he bit a big chunk of meat out of her face. If he had pulled a little more with his teeth, there would have been a gaping hole in her face. She was just that badly bruised. I didn’t know who she was,” the mother said.
The girl’s “perfect little nails” was the telling sign of who she was.
“Once I saw her hands and her feet, I knew it was my daughter. What kind of animal would do that to someone. I can’t call him a man because a real man wouldn’t do that,” she said, fighting back tears.
The teen is now trying her best to put the ordeal behind her.
While she has not started back attending school, her mother has been trying to get her school work from all of her teachers so she can study at home and not miss any assignments.
“She is nowhere near ready to step back outside or have company inside our home. She has counseling sessions that she participates in, and they are going well so far,” the mother said.
The girl said it was hard talking about it at first, and she still gets a little emotional about it. But she just wants to forget that it ever happened and go back to the way things used to be.
“She thinks it will be that easy, but I hear her talk in her sleep at night and sometimes wake up screaming. I just want who is responsible for this heinous crime against my baby to get what he deserves,” the mother added.
According to Chicago police, no one is in custody in this case.
A $10,000 reward has been offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the attacker.
The man is described as an African American between the ages of 19 and 20; 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds.
He has a dark complexion and short wavy hair. He was last seen wearing a dark hoodie.
Anyone with information is urged to call Area 5 detectives at (312) 746-8282.
Copyright 2008 Chicago Defender. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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