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At roughly 1:05 AM (an hour ago) in the Grand station of Chicago’s Redline Train, I witnessed an entirely unprovoked assault and battery: an African-American man in his late-30s/early-40s dressed head to toe in black assaulted an older Latino man with graying hair.

I’ve never before witnessed a crime so violent.

The assailant (the African-American) speaks some form of Spanish and bad vernacular English. He was drunk. Prior to the attack, he was showing off his prison tattoos to the five of us who were waiting in the Grand station for the southbound train.

He was struggling to keep his balance–at one point, he took two steps backward and as he neared the edge, three of us waiting in line warned him to step away from the tracks so as not to fall over.

He rocked and swayed, cursing in Spanish and English at us, browbeating everyone within sight, with the exception of the two men pictured in the photograph below. [Coming soon]. Although I may have been initlally in his line of fire, he rapidly switched from cursing me in Spanish to telling me that he liked my glasses. He offered me a cockeyed grin, then stepped forward to pound my fist. Of course, I reluctantly cooperated, returning his gesture with a half-smile. I reasoned that the gesture alone would create enough rapport for him to leave me alone. If, at the time, I had known what kind of violence he was capable of, I would have instead politely declined.

I was carrying a wallet, a nice phone and an Olympus digital camera on me at the time. Had I taken the camera or the phone out prior to or during the assault, I would have no doubt been attacked myself.

I will finish writing this tomorrow evening. I’ve filed two police reports. I’m finishing the second as I write this.