LAKEVIEW — It felt like she was watching herself star in a horror movie.
In the days after an attack on her front porch, Heather B., who requested her last name not be used to protect her safety, watched video surveillance of the incident.
In the early hours of Feb. 28, Heather was at the front door of her three-flat apartment in Lakeview when she was grabbed from behind, she said. The man put his arm around her neck and covered her face, demanding: "Don't scream."
Heather, 31, didn't listen. She pushed back and screamed. When the man stumbled back, she was able to push him off and "catch my breath and really start screaming," she said.
Within 30 seconds, he ran off.
The worst part was recalling her thoughts in the moments leading up to the attack, Heather said. She'd seen her assailant lying on the ground as she stepped from a taxi at Southport and Fletcher around 3:30 a.m.
"What was going on in my head at that point was, 'I hope that guy's OK,' " Heather said. "I thought maybe I should call 311, just so he doesn't lay out here and freeze."
No one has been arrested, and detectives are still investigating, Chicago Police said Tuesday.
Heather said it took more than 30 minutes for police to arrive after her neighbors called 911 for her. Another neighbor's father works for the Chicago Police Department and called him about the lack of response.
"Within five minutes, there were three detectives there," Heather said.
A passing patrol car showed up after 45 minutes by chance, but wasn't the squad dispatched on the call, Heather said.
"I got really upset and a little aggressive with them," Heather said. "We'd been waiting 45 minutes for cops to come, and I felt so unsafe and violated. And I felt like he could have been doing this to someone else right now, because he was gone."
Heather isn't sure whether she was targeted or if her attacker just seized a moment of opportunity. In the video footage, she said he walks to the spot in front of Devrim Cleaners, 3134 N. Southport Ave., five minutes before she arrived and "looks inebriated."
But when Heather walks out of the taxi and passes by, his head pops up to watch her, she said.
"My biggest fear is he's going to come back," she said. "I feel like people need to know it happened and the guy is still out there."
After 11 years living near Southport and Belmont, Heather said she's always felt safe. The west Lakeview area had been relatively quiet until a recent spree of crimes.
"We did get hit pretty hard earlier this year," said Sgt. Jason Clark, who led a Tuesday meeting for the 1933 police beat that includes Heather's intersection. With recent arrests connected to patterns of burglaries and robberies, "I hope our numbers now start to trend down."
The number of burglaries in Lakeview spiked this winter, nearly doubling the number reported between Nov. 8 and Feb. 8 last year. Cafe El Tapatio was hit last week — the first break-in it has suffered in 42 years.
The trend comes as Lakeview residents press public officials about the number of officers staffing the Town Hall District, also known as the 19th.
On Tuesday, neighbors grilled Clark for details, which he said he didn't have.
Chris Jessup, who handles public safety for Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), said the alderman was meeting with leaders of the Police Department and should have an update on the district's manpower this week.
"I would say it's been more [crime] than before, definitely, but there is no police presence anymore," said Figo Topal, who owns Devrim Cleaners. His surveillance cameras captured Heather's attack, and Topal said he also knew Kevin O'Malley, a customer of his who was shot dead during a robbery in last May.
After 26 years at Southport and Fletcher, Topal said he's noticed a recent decrease in foot patrols in the neighborhood.
"Seeing them made you feel safer," Topal said. "City services are going down, and when they are broke, the little things start showing up that you're missing."
Lakeview still is safer than many Chicago communities, but that is little comfort, Topal said.
"You pay the price to live here or run a business," he said. "Take [safety] away, and what else is the neighborhood going to offer?"
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