Red Line electrocution victim jumped to his death trying to avoid pursuing group: police report

The man whose electrocution at a South Side Red Line station late last month was ruled a homicide jumped to his death to escape a group of men chasing him, newly released records show.

After the man died late at night on Aug. 27 at the 79th Street Red Line station, the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled his death a homicide and referred further questions to law enforcement. Chicago police, however, were tight-lipped on why the death was considered a homicide. Department representatives said detectives were conducting a death investigation and said Friday night that there were no updates in the case.

CTA surveillance cameras show the man running away from five other men and jumping onto the train tracks in an attempt to escape, according to an incident report obtained in a Freedom of Information request. He was burned on much of his body, the report said.

The man’s identity wasn’t yet released, but medical examiner data shows he was 32.

Safety on and around the CTA has been headline news over the last week. On Monday, four people sleeping aboard the Blue Line were fatally shot in what authorities called a “horrific, heinous, inexplicable” rampage. The shooting was the first multi-victim homicide to occur on a CTA train in at least 30 years, according to available city violence data, and it was the first fatal shooting of the year on a CTA train or at a station.

Additionally, a Red Line passenger was stabbed multiple times on the North side Monday afternoon and an on-duty CTA worker was shot in the chest Tuesday outside the Howard Street Red Line station.

The agency has boosted its security spending in recent years as it has added guards and dog teams, budgeting nearly $65.2 million to purchase security services in 2024. Administrators also announced a pilot of an AI-based program to alert police to guns in stations days before the Blue Line attack, although system President Dorval Carter said the technology hadn’t been a factor in apprehending the shooting suspect.

Originally Published: September 6, 2024 at 8:21 p.m.