You saw the viral video of a young couple getting beaten up in downtown Chicago. Here's what you didn't see (thread).

Lenora Dennis witnessed the attack unfold. Police wouldn't help, she told me, so she had to take matters into her own hands... (1/11)
www.chicagotribune.com/news/criminal-justice/ct-chicago-violent-gathering-police-investigation-202304...

Dennis had been walking out of Macy's when the couple was attacked. It erupted seemingly out of nowhere, she said.

She heard the woman, 20, scream. She saw the man, 22, get stomped on, kicked and punched.

“It just turned into a total chaotic melee." So, of course... (2/11)

She and others nearby called police for help. That help didn't come, she said.

The visitor couples' phones were stolen. Their shoes were taken too. The attack lasted over 10 minutes, Dennis told me — far longer than the 20 second video clip that's gotten 15 million views. (3/11)

Police were certainly busy that night.

An alderman told me the crowd attacked 2 CTA buses & some drivers. Some tried to break into the Art Institute of Chicago. Two people were shot.

Police were short-staffed & leaderless, Ald. Hopkins said. (4/11)
www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-teen-mayhem-cpd-failures-0418-20230418-dpjymx4cwbb7nilnxmpxpt...

Hopkins called the police response "inadequate" and said the department was in "disarray."

Dennis had her own feelings: “It makes me feel scared. It terrifies me that people are either asleep at the wheel or that they’re willfully blind."

But her story isn't done yet... (5/11)

As a fifth (yes, five) police car passed the fight that was spilling into the street, she got in front of the cruiser & gestured for help, she said.

“And the police officer locked eyes with me, cut a pass right around me, and kept going,” Dennis, of Englewood, told me. (6/11)

That's when Dennis decided she had to confront the crowd of ~80 teens herself, she said. They ran off. Some came back & hit the 22 y/o again.

They needed to get out of there, ASAP. She got the couple into Macy's for cover. Then, they ran barefoot to her car. Where next?.. (7/11)

The 22 y/o seemed concussed. Dennis decided to go to the police station before the hospital.

When they got there, a desk cop told Dennis that the attack was happening because (progressive) Brandon Johnson was elected mayor. He hasn't started yet, doesn't till May 15. (8/11)

That made Dennis feel like desk officer didn't love Chicago or respect the election results much, she said. A detective patiently took down a police report. They got an ambulance. Dennis brought them shoes in the hospital.

The whole response, she said, was a "disaster." (9/11)

So what does this lifelong Chicagoan want to see now?

For everyone to put “egos,” “preconceived notions,” “campaign slogans” and “puffed-up rhetoric” to the side. It's time for solutions, she said.

“We need to do real investigative thinking into what these kids need.” (10/11)

Police are investigating the allegations of inaction made by Dennis & others, the Chicago Police Department said Wednesday.

Meanwhile, other large meetups are being planned in Chicago & a suburb again for Saturday, Hopkins & police said. (11/11)
www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/oak-park/ct-north-riverside-mall-police-gathering-20230419-23ks6pwyqfb...