Former CTA Bus Driver Charged With Body Slamming Man In Incident Caught On Video
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A former CTA bus driver has been charged with aggravated battery, after he was caught on video picking a man up and slamming him to the pavement last month on the South Side.
Police said 46-year-old Milan Williams was charged with one count of aggravated battery in a public place. Court records show he was released on a recognizance bond on Thursday, and was due back in court in September.
Williams was one of two CTA employees who were fired last month for their roles in a fight with a CTA passenger on June 11 near 77th and Western.
Lawrence Madden Jr., 43, came forward last week to say he was on a CTA bus headed south on Western Avenue around 2 a.m. on June 11, when the driver stopped the bus near 77th Street to talk to another bus driver for about 10 minutes. Madden said, when he accused the driver of unprofessional behavior, the driver got off the bus through the front door, and started walking to the rear door.
When Madden got off the bus, he said the driver punched and kicked him several times, and tripped him three times. He claimed that's when the second CTA bus driver -- now identified as Williams -- came up behind him, picked him up, and slammed him to the ground.
Video posted on Twitter shows two men, one of them dressed in a CTA uniform, standing next to a bus, apparently about to fight. A second man in a CTA uniform comes up behind one of the men, picks him up, and slams him to the ground. The CTA employee is then heard shouting "you better get your a** home, boy," as the man lies motionless on the ground.
Madden said he was just trying to defend himself when the second bus driver body-slammed him. He said he is still suffering from back and neck pain, as well as post-traumatic stress and paranoia, due to the attack.
"I'm going through pain right now. I can't sleep. I've got headaches, depression, paranoia, thinking that somebody's coming after me," he said.
Madden's attorneys have said they are planning a lawsuit, and have subpoenaed the CTA for surveillance video from the bus. They said the video would prove Madden did nothing to provoke the attack.
"There are many things that you have not seen, and we're going to get that out," attorney Arielle Williams said last week.
CTA officials said the two employees involved were fired last week for conduct unbecoming a CTA employee, and for failure to report the incident, following an internal investigation.
"CTA's number one priority is the safety and security of its riders and employees. The behavior of these former employees was unacceptable and is not at all reflective of the thousands of men and women who take pride and responsibility in their CTA duties," a spokesperson stated in an email.
