COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — Two people have been charged in the Blue Line beating of a DePaul University student that horrified the city when no one stepped in to stop the attack.
Dwayne Mills, 24, and Chitonia Shorter, 18, are accused of beating and biting 19-year-old Jessica Hughes after the student refused to give up her iPhone while riding the Blue Line last month. Hughes wound up in the hospital with a broken nose and multiple contusions.
Shorter was arrested last week after her mother recognized her in CTA footage of the attack and called police, Assistant State's Attorney Erin Antonietti said during a bond hearing Friday.
Shorter then identified Mills as her accomplice, according to an arrest report. He was arrested at his Austin home about 7 a.m. Thursday.
Hughes was riding the Blue Line home with a crowd of other DePaul students about 10 a.m. April 28 when the students cleared out after a few stops, according to Hughes' father, Richard Amador.
Hughes was left on the train with Mills, Shorter and three or four other people, Amador and authorities said.
That's when Mills allegedly stood up and ordered Hughes to "Give me the iPhone," Amador said.
Shorter held open the train doors at the Kedzie stop while Mills tried to grab Hughes' phone — but Hughes wouldn't let go, according to prosecutors.
Mills called for Shorter to help, and the woman walked toward Hughes and punched her four times in the face, breaking Hughes' nose, Antonietti said. Mills, meanwhile, bit Hughes' hand and eventually freed the phone from her grip.
During the commotion, the train doors closed, Antonietti noted. As Mills and Shorter tried to pry open the doors, Hughes was able to grab her phone back from Mills' pocket, prosecutors said.
Mills and Shorter then fled to another car and eventually got off the train.
Shorter, of the 2200 block of West 54th Place, was charged last week with felony robbery and ordered held in lieu of $50,000 bail.
Mills, of the 4900 block of West Congress Parkway, is also charged with felony robbery. He is currently on parole for aggravated robbery and carjacking.
According to his public defender, Mills has worked as a barber for the past four months. He has one child, and his girlfriend is currently pregnant with his second child.
Cook County Judge Donald Panarese Jr. on Friday ordered Mills held in lieu of $500,000 bail.
Late last month, Hughes was home from the hospital and recuperating, but "she's emotionally traumatized," Amador said. He was upset none of the bystanders on the train helped his daughter.
“I would say, if it was their daughter, and I was on that train, I would jump in regardless because she is another human being," Amador said. "And when somebody is crying out for help and you do nothing, you’re just as guilty."
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