Men Charged With Beating Female Cabbie

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two men stand charged with robbing and beating a female cab driver in the University Village neighborhood, after being caught by a UIC police officer.

Sung Won Chung, 22, and Alexander Choi, 19, were both charged with aggravated battery to a cabdriver and aggravated robbery following their early Friday arrest at 1151 W. 15th St., police said. They were both ordered held on bail of $125,000 Sunday by Judge Jackie Portman.

A female cabdriver told responding officers that she had been beaten by two patrons who refused to pay their fare, then took her cell phone and ran away, police said.

A witness who saw the alleged beating told police he saw the men run into a building on West 15th Street, police said. University of Illinois at Chicago police found the two men, who matched the cabdriver's description, in a stairwell in the building and arrested them just before 2:30 a.m., police said.

Choi, of the 3100 block of West Medill Avenue, and Chung, a South Korean citizen who resides in the 1100 block of 14th Place, appeared for a bond hearing Saturday, police said.

The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.