Identified by police four years later
They say the wheels of justice can be slow. Well, that certainly is true in the case of Phillip Brown, a thug who was finally arrested and sentenced for beating a defenseless gay man just before LGBT Pride back in 2015.
The victim was standing on a corner, trying to hail a cab.
As reported in the Chicago Tribune:
“Prosecutors on Saturday said Phillip Brown, 20, approached the victim near the intersection of Ashland and Fullerton avenues in late June 2015 and began uttering homophobic epithets before he began punching the man.”
After the name calling, things went downhill fast.
“Brown stole the victim's iPhone 6 and hopped a gate, running into a nearby apartment complex, said Assistant State's Attorney Becky Walters. The victim went to a nearby gas station and called 911 using a bystander's phone.
Based on the victim's description of his attacker, a police officer was able to narrow down suspects and got the victim to positively identify Brown through a photograph, Walters said.”
Four years later, almost miraculously, the long arm of the law finally caught up with Mr. Brown.
CWB shares the following.
“Members of the Great Lakes fugitive task force arrested Brown [in October] at the Cook County courthouse in Skokie, based on a police investigative alert from the June 2015 attack.
Brown, of the 3300 block of West Walnut Street, was later charged with felony hate crime, aggravated battery and robbery.
A court-appointed public defender said Brown is a factory worker with two children. Brown was ordered held on $250,000 bail.”
So, what happened?
“Brown, 21, agreed to plead guilty to robbery and hate crime charges. In exchange, the state dropped a felony aggravated battery count.
Cook County Judge Alfredo Maldonado sentenced Brown to four-years for the robbery to be served concurrently with three-years for the hate crime charge.
Brown is scheduled to be paroled on July 12, 2019.
Eight hours after the hate crime, Chicago’s 2015 Gay Pride Parade kicked off. Prosecutors did not draw any connection between the events.”
h/t: CWB Chicago
