Woman Pushing Stroller Robbed By City Worker Impersonator
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Southwest Side woman wants others to know what happened to her a week ago.
And as WBBM Newsradio's Steve Miller reports, with her 9-month-old twins in a stroller, Lauren Hemingway left her home near 50th Street and Western Avenue through the alley in broad daylight. There, she saw what she thought was a city worker.
"He had a City of Chicago vest on, and he had a City of Chicago hat on," Hemingway said.
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He also had a clipboard, and he was looking at the utility poles.
And then he said, "'Excuse me, miss...'" Hemingway said. "And I turned around and he has a gun in my face."
The city worker imposter robbed Hemingway. No one was hurt.
Hemingway describes the suspect as being a white male, about 6 feet 3 inches tall and 350 pounds.
She says she was lulled into thinking she was safe because he had looked so official. Hemingway, who is mixed race, also allowed her own stereotypes to affect her judgment.
"I'm listening to stereotypes," she said. "I thought nothing of this white man. I didn't think he was going to harm me or anything. And it shocked me."
Police say no one is in custody.
