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Man Charged After Bystanders Halt Loop Garage Attack as CTA Cameras Guide Arrest

Transit cameras with bystander action proved pivotal in stopping the attack then guiding the arrest.

Overview

  • A 20-year-old woman was attacked around 6:35 a.m. Monday inside the Millennium Park parking garage at 30 North Michigan Avenue as she walked to work.
  • Bystanders, including a co-worker, intervened by striking the assailant with a water bottle and a wet floor sign, pulling him off the victim and forcing him to flee.
  • CTA staff tracked the suspect on surveillance video from the Monroe Red Line station to 26th Street and Halsted, where police detained him near a bus stop and later reported the arrest in the 2500 block of South Archer Avenue.
  • Prosecutors said Garland Benton, 45, is charged with attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault causing bodily harm, aggravated criminal sexual abuse causing bodily harm, and two counts of aggravated battery in a public place.
  • The victim was treated at Northwestern Memorial Hospital as investigators collected a sexual-assault kit, and prosecutors said officers recovered a sex device and a one-way Amtrak ticket from the suspect while noting his extensive prior record.