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Man Attacked On NW Side Porch After Telling Group to Quiet Down: Cops

By Erin Meyer | September 9, 2014 5:22am
 Jason Neal, 20, and two friends allegedly attacked a 62-year-old Jefferson Park man, breaking his nose.
Jason Neal, 20, and two friends allegedly attacked a 62-year-old Jefferson Park man, breaking his nose.
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Google Maps; Chicago Police Department (inset)

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A 62-year-old man sitting on his front porch in Jefferson Park had his nose broken after he and a friend yelled at three young men to stop banging on cars and behave, authorities said.

"I said, 'Hey guys, what do you think you're doing?' " the victim said, still recovering from his injuries Monday morning. "Suddenly, one of the guys  — he doesn't have a shirt on or anything — jumps over the fence. It is something crazy."

It happened Thursday night when the two men — ages 62 and 50 — were sitting on the 62-year-old's porch in the 5200 block of North LeClaire, enjoying the warm weather.

Erin Meyer spoke to the one of the men about the attack:

The 62-year-old said he saw three, apparently drunken men banging on cars and apparently trying to break into them.

"We don't expect this kind of thing," the man said. "This is a nice, quiet neighborhood."

The men on the porch yelled for them to knock it off and behave. That's when two of the men jumped over the fence, came onto the porch and started swinging, prosecutors said.

One of the attackers — authorities allege it was Jason Neal, 20, of the 3800 block of North Long Avenue in Portage Park — pushed the 50-year-old over the porch railing and threw the man's wooden chair at him, police said.

Neal then chased after the 62-year-old man as he tried to escape into his home and beat him, prosecutors said.

"They started breaking everything in the house," the man said. "My wife was sleeping. I screamed at them to get out." 

The Jefferson Park man suffered a broken nose and was taken to the hospital. 

His three attackers initially got away, but Neal later was spotted by an officer in the 4900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue, authorities said. He was charged with home invasion resulting in serious bodily harm.

A Cook County judge ordered Neal held on $400,000 bail during a brief court hearing Friday. 

As of Friday, no one besides Neal had been charged in the attack. 

"I am fortunate," the victim said. "They [could have had] a knife [or] guns. These people have no respect for human life."

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