COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A man who pulled a gun on a couple of bouncers outside of the Funky Buddha Lounge had his legs broken by them after they tackled him early Sunday morning as the bar closed, prosecutors said.
Robert Rhames, 41, threatened the bouncers with the gun at 728 W. Grand Ave., according to police. Rhames tried to run, but the bouncers tackled him, and an off-duty Chicago police officer found the weapon, prosecutors said.
Rhames, of the 6700 block of South Shore Drive, was charged with unauthorized use of a weapon by a felon, two counts of aggravated assault in a public place for threatening the bouncers, and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a firearm owner's ID card, according to court records.
Rhames allegedly pulled a semiautomatic handgun from his pocket and pointed it at both men.
"'You all mother------- keep playing with us, you all [will] not leave here,'" Rhames allegedly said to the bouncers, according to court records.
When Rhames ran a moment later, the two bouncers chased him, according to a police report. The bouncers tackled Rhames, breaking his left leg in the process, and held him on the ground.
An off-duty police officer who saw the chase intervened and recovered a .45-caliber black steel Glock with one bullet in the chamber, the police report stated.
Hoping to quash any safety concerns patrons might have, Nick Stavropoulos, co-owner of the Funky Buddha Lounge, said Tuesday that the incident happened in the street outside the club.
"I don't want to get my customers afraid," he said. "[The club] is still a safe place to come."
Stavropoulos also had a different explanation for Rhames' broken leg. He said he saw Rhames try to jump into the back of a pickup truck while trying to escape.
"He dove in the back," he said, adding the Rhames didn't make it. "His legs hit the tailgate; that's how he broke his leg."
Rhames, appearing on crutches in court Monday, is being held in lieu of $200,000 bail.
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