A Chicago man is facing involuntary manslaughter charges after an altercation at a downtown CTA station last month led to the death of a 9-year-old Humboldt Park boy with autism who fell down stairs during the melee, authorities said Monday.
Police arrested Michael J. Korosa, 52, on Saturday, the same day the boy, Elijah Ramon Flores, was laid to rest during a funeral mass at Holy Name Cathedral.
During a detention hearing Monday, Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz released Korosa pending his next court appearance, according to court records. Besides manslaughter, Korosa also is charged with aggravated battery of a transit employee — both felonies, the records said.
Surveillance video captured Flores and a 22-year-old man exiting a Green Line train on the 500 block of West Lake Street shortly before noon on Aug. 10. In court Monday, prosecutors said the man lived with the boy and was dating his mother.
The 22-year-old man started an altercation when he “grabbed money” from another passenger on the train and then “dragged (the boy) with, to make good his escape,” prosecutors said.
They said he picked the boy up “over his shoulder at the top of the stairs and began to run down them” as Korosa, also a passenger, and the theft victim pursued him. Prosecutors said Korosa, who was wearing a walking boot on his foot and using a cane, struck the man on his back and head with the cane, causing the man to fall down the stairs and drop the boy.
The altercation was captured on CTA surveillance video and cellphone footage taken by the theft victim, according to court documents. The man who was with the boy eventually tossed the money down the stairs, then scooped up the child and boarded another train, where a passenger called 911 after observing the unconscious boy’s condition.
Prosecutors said the 22-year-old man did not go with him to the hospital. The Tribune is not naming the man who, according to court records, has not been charged with a crime related to the incident.
Rescuers rushed the child to Lurie Children’s Hospital, where authorities said he suffered severe brain damage. He died on Aug. 16 of blunt force injuries to the head in a death that was ruled a homicide, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Prosecutors said police later identified Korosa from a community bulletin containing a still image from the CTA surveillance video. They said the mother’s boyfriend and the other man who was the theft victim also identified Korosa, and that Korosa admitted to “chasing and swinging his cane” at the 22-year-old man on the steps as he held the boy.
Korosa, who lives on the 5100 block of South Woodlawn Avenue, is due back in court Sept. 4. Prosecutors said he is a convicted felon with past stints in prison whose crimes include aggravated battery, possession of a controlled substance, escape, retail theft, robbery and burglary.
Following the boy’s death, donors raised about $30,000 in a GoFundMe campaign launched to help with funeral expenses.
“We would like to sincerely thank everyone for your love, prayers, and generous donations during this heartbreaking time,” the boy’s family said in a statement posted on the GoFundMe page Thursday. “Your kindness has lifted us and helped us carry the weight of this loss.”
Originally Published:
