BUCKTOWN — A man suspected of swiping a pipe from a smoke shop near the CTA Blue Line's Western station was arrested after police stopped an "L" train he boarded following a chase by a determined small business owner.
The dramatic event started around 2:24 p.m. on Wednesday and ended by 3:34 p.m, according to Michael Rudel, owner of St. Lucia Smoke Shop, 2075 N. Western Ave. and Officer Laura Amezaga, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.
Rudel posted a video of the shoplifter casually taking the pipe and a glass jar, while the store's dog calmly snoozed a few feet away.
Video of the alleged shoplifter. [Michael Rudel/YouTube]
An employee can be heard saying "hey!" as the man walked out of the shop. The worker quickly called Rudel, who lives above the shop, according to Jasmine Rayman-Kinney, Rudel's business partner.
Rayman-Kinney said that within a minute of the man leaving, Rudel called 911 and began walking south on Western Avenue toward McDonald's, where Rudel had had a feeling the man was headed.
"He saw him in the parking lot of McDonald's. [Rudel] approached the guy and said give me my pipe back. Dude had an empty bottle of rum in his hand and swung it at him," Rayman-Kinney said, adding that the bottle did not hit Rudel and there was no contact.
Rudel was able to grab the attention of a passing police car while he was encountering the man.
"Got lucky and flagged down a passing officer while I was on the phone with 911," Rudel posted on a Bucktown Neighborhood Watch Facebook page.
But after the police came, the man ran across the street, hopped the Western Blue Line turnstile, and tried to get on a train, according to Rudel, who said "CTA security saw something was up and stopped the trains" so the police could pull the man off the train.
Juan Magdaleno, 20, of the 4500 block of W. Diversey Ave. was charged with one misdemeanor count of retail theft of items less than $300 and simple assault after being identified as the male who entered an commercial establishment, took a piece of merchandise and fled, Amezaga said.
Magdaleno is scheduled to appear in Cook County Court-Branch 23, 5555 W. Grand Ave. on Thursday.
Chicago Police Officers escort Juan Magdaleno off of the L train. [Michael Rudel/Facebook]
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