Man Charged with Murder Attempt on Prosecutor Who Intervened to Protect 2 Men Holding Hands
A 21-year-old Chicago man is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail in an attempted first-degree murder case concerning a victim of a public physical attack who happened to be a Cook County prosecutor.
The unidentified prosecutor, who was en route to meet a friend to fish on the lakefront, intervened to try to protect two other men holding hands who were being verbally “hassled” by a small group of adults at about 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 in the city’s upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood, according to the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times.
The two men in the group then turned on the prosecutor, punching and kicking him and striking him in the face with a bottle, which broke, said assistant state’s attorney Erin Antonietti at a bond hearing Monday for the suspect, Edgar Diaz. A spokeswoman for the state’s attorney’s office said the victim prosecutor was slashed or stabbed repeatedly on his face, arm and right side.
The other suspect in the attack has not been arrested.
Diaz was reportedly identified in a lineup by the prosecutor and at least one other witness. News coverage doesn’t explain how authorities identified Diaz as a possible suspect prior to the lineup.
Attorney Gregg Smith represents Diaz, who also faces two aggravated battery charges, and said his client played no role in the entire situation. “He says he was not anywhere near the lake,” said Smith of Diaz.
The prosecutor, whose age is variously reported as 31 or 32, was treated at two hospitals, including a trauma center, and released after getting 40 stitches for his injuries, according to Antonietti.
Chicago Pride and CBS Chicago also have stories.
