Prosecutors say woman tried to shove musician onto L tracks before stabbing him
Street musician Mike Malinowski said he doesn’t want to walk around with hate in his heart toward the woman who allegedly attacked him with a steak knife Tuesday while he was performing on a downtown CTA platform, destroying his guitar and nearly pushing him onto the L tracks.
“After a close death experience like that, I just don’t have enough time to feel that.
I’m just here to have a good time, man,” he said.
Barbara Johnson, 38, who has a history of mental illness, faces two felony counts of aggravated battery and a misdemeanor count of criminal damage to property in connection with the stabbing at the Red Line platform at Jackson.
Cook County Judge Susana Ortiz cited Johnson’s extensive felony background when denying her bail.
The attack began about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when Johnson approached him and unplugged his guitar amplifier, prosecutors said.
“Never met this person in my life and I’ve been playing down there many years,” Malinowski said. “She just appeared.”
Johnson allegedly shoved him toward the tracks, nearly pushing him over the edge, and punched him several times, prosecutors said.
He eventually got away, but she allegedly chased and stabbed him in the arm with a steak knife, prosecutors said. Johnson then threw his amplifier and guitar onto the tracks, prosecutors said.
Police said the 26-year-old performer was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in fair condition.
Johnson was arrested by officers at the station.
Her public defender said she has a history of mental illnesses, is a lifelong Chicagoan and attends St. Sabina Church.
Malinowski, whose stage name is “Machete Mike,” said he cannot play guitar because of his injuries.
“I can’t carry an amp. I can barely do a G chord right now,” he said. “I hope there’s not gonna be some long extended recovery from this, and I hope there won’t be any permanent damage.”
A woman who identified herself as the street performer’s sister told the Chicago Sun-Times, “The woman who stabbed him also destroyed his only means of work.”
Malinowski chose to see a sliver of humor in the incident.
“The irony of being machete Mike and being stabbed; Oh my god, what a joke.”
Impersonating a ride-hailing driver in Chicago will soon be costly — both in time and in money.
Spurred by a “rash” of recent attacks on intoxicated passengers stumbling out of downtown bars, the City Council’s Public Safety Committee agreed Thursday to impose a minimum, $10,000 fine and up to 180 days in jail against anyone posing as a driver for Uber, Lyft or Via. The maximum fine would be $20,000 for each offense.
Downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) said young partygoers are “making the very good decision” not to drive downtown for a night of drinking. But too often, they “look at that as a license” to overindulge.
“When you over-drink and you’re dependent on someone else to get you home, that poses a tremendous risk to your personal safety,” said Reilly, who introduced the ordinance.
“In the last two years, four women have been raped by fake ride share drivers. We’ve had a number of incidents of people being robbed at gunpoint in alleys just feet from where they’re picked up. The one common thread here is that, typically, these folks have consumed a substantial amount of alcohol.”
Chicago Police Lt. John Cannon knows that better than anybody. He works the midnight watch in the 18th District.
Cannon said the ordinance will allow police to take a “more pro-active approach” to a growing problem: criminals using the rideshare ruse to commit more serious offenses.
“We charge them as often as we can catch them . . . . We have seen kidnapping charges, robbery charges, a lot of theft charges, stealing of credit cards . . . . There are currently charges — one notably — of a series of rapes and kidnappings being adjudicated now,” Cannon said.
Reilly’s ordinance would make it illegal for anyone to “impersonate” a ride-hailing driver or “falsely represent themselves” as such — either by making false statements or “falsely displaying” company signage or emblems.
In December 2018, now-indicted Ald. Edward Burke (14th) joined forces with now-deposed Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th) on a similar crackdown that went nowhere.
This time, Reilly has the wind at his back.
Uber and Lyft are all for the idea as both companies struggle to improve passenger safety and regain consumer confidence.
Uber recently launched a “PIN Code Verification Feature” that gives riders the option of receiving a four-digit PIN code to provide to their driver before starting a trip. Lyft also offers “vehicle identification options.”
None of those measures is good enough for Reilly.
“This is yet another charge we can layer on top of the other felonies that typically occur during these incidents. Whether that’s a strong-armed robbery, a rape, sexual assault or kidnapping,” Reilly said.
“We’ve seen a rash of serious incidents. This is an important tool we need to provide our partners in the Police Department to really get this thing under control.”
Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) said he drank a little too much on the night the Cubs won the World Series and “got into the wrong Lyft.” Lopez had the good fortune of being with a group of people.
“Having to argue with someone who had driven me five blocks away, pulled over in a neighborhood which was not my own, and trying to argue with an individual to let us out was harrowing enough,” Lopez said.
“To be in a situation where you are completely out of control — where you are at the sheer mercy of somebody who, at best, only wants to rob you — is something I’m glad our city and our police are taking seriously.”