COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man was arrested was ordered held on $150,000 bond Wednesday after he allegedly exposed himself and battered a pregnant woman on a bus to Navy Pier.
Lewis Fleming, 47, was charged with indecent exposure and two counts of aggravated battery: one for allegedly pressing his genitals against the female rider's back and another for allegedly fighting after the bus driver tried to escort him off the bus, according to court records.
The victim, a 23-year-old Berwyn woman, was taking the Number 29 CTA bus to Navy Pier to meet her boyfriend on Monday, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said at a bond hearing Wednesday. When she pulled the cord to signal the bus to stop, and then got up from her seat, Fleming allegedly followed her — while masturbating.
The man then pressed his groin against the woman's back, Antonietti said. The woman then turned around and realized the man was exposed.
After the hearing, in which a Cook County judge ordered Fleming held on $150,000 bond, the woman said while she was shaken and disgusted by the attack, she chose to focus on what she described as "the positive.
"It happened for a reason, to get him off the street," the woman said.
But an attorney representing Fleming at the hearing said his client "vehemently denies" the accusations.
