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Suspect Runs Over Retired Chicago Cop, Who Must Have Leg Amputated

(CBS) – A 70-year-old retired Chicago police officer sustained serious injuries when a suspect ran him over multiple times.

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports.

"He tried to help and he got hurt, very, very badly."

This woman talks about her neighbor, 70-year-old Francis Januszewski, a retired Chicago police officer. She asked CBS 2 to conceal her identity.

The woman says she was running down an alley, trying to get away from 22-year-old Manuel Repasi.

Repasi had just allegedly attacked the woman's boyfriend. She says Repasi punched her boyfriend in the face, breaking his orbital bone.

It all happened after a traffic accident in the East Side neighborhood near the lake.  Police say Repasi hit her boyfriend's car, ran from the scene, then came back and attacked him.

Januszewski, a former officer with 37 years on the police force and a Vietnam veteran, ran to help the woman.  That's when the victim says Repasi got back into the car, and ran over the 70-year-old several times.

His right knee and leg are broken. Part of his left leg must be amputated.

She says those who know Januszewski, are pulling together and hoping to launch some kind of a fundraiser.

"I feel awful for him," she says.

Repasi is being held on $800,000 bond. Repasi has numerous charges in this case, among them, two counts of attempted murder.

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