CHINATOWN — Three teenagers shoved a 12-year-old girl standing outside her school, stole her cell phone and took off running, police said.
Little did the teen robbers know: An off-duty police officer saw the whole thing unfold.
The crime happened around 3:30 p.m. May 13, police said, and the off-duty officer chased the offenders. He eventually caught up to two of the boys: A 15-year-old and 16-year-old.
"He jumped right in the action and chased them for quite some time without regard for his own safety at all," said Deering District Police Cmdr. Daniel Godsel, standing between Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th) and Ald. Danny Solis (25th) at a Thursday morning news conference near the girl's school. He was able to apprehend two of them and he held on to them until 9th District officers arrived."
Godsel said the Deering District has stepped up patrols in Chinatown since the strong-arm robbery.
In those incidents, police said, two young men and a woman walked up to people in the street and rob them at gunpoint.
The robberies were reported at the following times and blocks:
• 3:50 p.m. April 28 in the 100 block of West Cermak Avenue
• 1:50 p.m. May 4, in the 2200 block of South Wentworth Avenue
• 8:01 p.m. May 11, in the 2700 block of South Princeton Avenue
• 8:30 a.m. May 12, in the 100 block of West Cermak Avenue
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