A CTA bus driver with solely six months on the job was hijacked by a passenger wielding a 12-inch knife who compelled her to drive throughout town till she seized a possibility to bail out of her driver’s window on the Close to North Aspect early Wednesday, prosecutors mentioned.
Prosecutors on Friday mentioned Lanell Fields, 51, held the 57-year-old driver captive for practically an hour earlier than she made her escape simply after 3 a.m. close to Clark and Delaware.
It began merely sufficient: The motive force was nearing the tip of her shift, heading north on Pulaski Street, when she picked up Fields shortly after 2 a.m. He walked to the again and sat down, becoming a member of about 4 different passengers, prosecutors mentioned.
About 20 minutes into the experience, the driving force seen Fields was waving a big knife and the opposite passengers took discover, too. The motive force pulled over and a lot of the riders obtained off. Prosecutors mentioned she left the doorways open for some time, hoping Fields would depart on his personal. He didn’t.
With the remaining passengers gone, prosecutors mentioned Fields moved to the entrance and sat straight behind the driving force for about half-hour, wielding the knife, yelling at her, and ordering her to not open the door for another passengers. Then he directed her off her route totally, demanding she flip east on Belmont.
“You higher flip this bus,” he allegedly mentioned whereas holding the knife.
The motive force complied, and Fields grew extra aggressive, ordering her to go sooner and blow by means of purple lights and cease indicators, prosecutors alleged. When the driving force did cease, he allegedly grew to become agitated, demanding she “hit the fuel” whereas brandishing the knife. Between outbursts, in accordance with prosecutors, Fields alternated between swinging the knife, going quiet, and rambling incoherently.
By way of all of it, the driving force was quietly working her personal plan. Prosecutors mentioned she hit a panic button and despatched messages to CTA dispatch alerting them to what was taking place. She additionally unbuckled her seatbelt and cracked open her driver’s aspect window, laying the groundwork for her escape.
A CTA supervisor discovered of the hijacking and drove to intercept the bus at Clark and Delaware. When the bus rolled as much as the intersection shortly after 3 a.m., the driving force noticed him. She stopped, threw open the doorways, and jumped out the window. The supervisor picked her up, and Fields stepped off the bus and ran, prosecutors mentioned.
Officers searched the realm and initially detained the fallacious individual. Then a 911 name got here in that led police to Fields, and each the driving force and the CTA supervisor recognized him because the assailant. Prosecutors mentioned he had a big knife that matched the one he was seen wielding on CTA surveillance footage.
Prepare dinner County data present Fields accrued greater than 60 arrests over the previous 26 years, together with 18 felonies. His convictions embrace narcotics-related prices in 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2019; escaping digital monitoring in 2006; tried residential housebreaking in 2008; looting in 2022; two burglaries in 2024; and a felony legal injury cost that was diminished to a misdemeanor final month.
Decide D’Anthony Thedford detained Fields on prices of aggravated armed kidnapping, aggravated assault with a weapon in opposition to a state worker, and aggravated illegal restraint.
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