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Men Dressed As Women Busted During CTA Robbery

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Chicago police make a robbery arrest near Van Buren Street in the Loop on Monday morning. (CBS)

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago police arrested a group of male robbery suspects, some of whom were dressed as women, on the Blue Line on Monday morning.

Police Arrest Five In CTA Robbery

Charges are pending against five suspects, WBBM's Regine Schlesinger reports.
 
It happened just past 6 a.m. as a CTA Blue Line train was pulling into the station at Van Buren and Clinton.

A bike messenger who was on board was approached by five suspects who tried unsuccessfully to grab his bicycle.

He held onto it but they got his messenger bag and ran off and were chased by the victim.

At Van Buren and Wacker, the messenger flagged down police officer Lidio Traverso who caught three of the suspects.

"Once I determined I was outnumbered and because of the nature of the call and only because of the nature of the call being a robbery with potential weapons involved," said Traverso. "Once I drew my weapon, I don't think they resisted much."

Once backup arrived, Traverso got back in his car to look for a couple of other suspects in the robbery, driving all the way to Washington and Wabash. He made two more arrests there.

"I'm doing what I think every other police officer would do," said Traverso.

Police say two of them were men, dressed as women. One of the suspects is a woman and two others are men.

Police retrieved the victim's belongings except for a cell phone that apparently was lost during the chase. The messenger wasn't hurt.

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