Readers have forwarded the following from the Chicago Tribune:
"A 19-year-old man who police believe was writing graffiti was found unconscious and apparently electrocuted between an electrical transformer, a chain link fence and a telephone pole, authorities said.
He was alive when authorities discovered him in the 1800 block of West Montrose Avenue but died at Advocate Illinois Masonic a short time later, authorities said. He was pronounced dead at 3:56 a.m.
Police said the man may have been tagging because the transformer where he was found was defaced. Firefighters and paramedics brought him down with a ladder, police said.
The man, who the Cook County medical examiner's office has not identified, has been arrested seven times with criminal defacement of property or posession of paint or markers with an intent to deface property, police said."
Our thoughts and prayers are with this young man's family.
I must have missed the point at which we started feeling sorry for criminals.
ReplyDeleteIs Uptown expanding west all the way over to Ravenswood, where this happened?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it's too bad that the kid was electrocuted, but my sentiments run toward those of smcilhen--the kid definitely gets a Darwin Award for removing himself from the gene pool while doing something stupid for the last time.
bear, this was a very young man. My prayers go out to his family. He was a well known & liked "tagger" who was trying to turn things around.
ReplyDeleteagreed with americanlt. I'm sorry for his loss, and his family's loss.
ReplyDelete" He was a well known & liked "tagger" who was trying to turn things around."
ReplyDeleteAs in just not tagging and defacing property in the middle of the night in dangerous places "turn things around"?
If he'd turned things around sooner, he wouldn't have met his shocking end.
Methinks some of you need to visit dictionary dot come and look up the meaning of the word sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteSheesh, my work is never done!
americanlt, I'm not going to say anything about how it's easy to like a "tagger" when he's not "tagging" your own property. But I *will* say that he most certainly DID "turn things around" with his life. Quite emphatically. I'm surprised that his family hasn't already filed a lawsuit against ComEd for their failure to post warnings on their transformer that tagging live high-voltage electrical equipment could be dangerous. Like I said before, it's too bad that he couldn't channel his "creative" energies into something more constructive before his stupidity caught up with him.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there should be transformers placed on the east facing wall of the Uptown Theater? That might deter some of the constant tagging there.
ReplyDeleteOops, too soon?
The family's loss and loss of someone so young will no doubt be difficult.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I'm
1) Having trouble feeling sympathy for a criminal who was doing something dumb to begin with;
2) A huge believer in Darwin awards/principals when something like this makes the news.
Sorry....it was either doing this, or maybe next time when he thought it was a good idea to tag the center lane pavement of a freeway and that semi truck 'came out of nowhere.'
Again, I don't exactly feel sympathetic for the kid; I do feel sympathy for the family and their loss of a son/brother/etc.