CPD Adds Confusion to Bloody Howard CTA Mystery

UPDATE 5/21/09: The Real Straight Dope - Rogers Park More Dangerous Than Admitted ------------------------ Was the man a victim of a violent crime, or of natural hemorrhaging? On Saturday, April 25, 2009 a man collapsed in a pool of his own blood on the west side of the Howard CTA station around 7:50 p.m. He lay there for two hours until police transported him to St. Francis hospital in Evanston. Four and a half hours later, at 12:20 a.m. on Sunday, the Chicago Police Department released a bizarre statement that only adds to the confusion of the incident. We do not believe the police statement. Quite frankly, we believe that the statement from CPD is either a deliberate lie or some weird, unintentional admission of some of the most incompetent police and paramedic work in the history of Chicago. Or the world, even. There are five reasons why we do not trust the police statement. What the hell, exactly, happened at the Howard CTA station in Rogers Park, Chicago on the night of April 25, 2009? What we do know that a man was bleeding heavily and staggered along the street until he collapsed on the west side of the Howard station. Our informant said, "Victim was shot about 7:50 p.m. and not transported to St. Francis until 9:45 p.m.," based on what police themselves were saying on the radio. The police went next door to get videotape from Dominicks supermarket, then an hour later pulled apprehended a car that they thought they saw on that tape. They took the care in to the 24th District police station be sniffed by K-9 for "gunshot residue." Yet, despite all of that, the police put out a very strange statement: "Per Area 3, their investigation revealed the incident on the 7500 blk of N Paulina not be of a criminal nature after discovering that the M/44 subject appeared to be suffering from a medical condition and had NOT sustained a gunshot wound." CommieBama Hats and More Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Follow ChiNewsBench on Twitter