Mar 17, 2010 4:30 pm US/Central
Evanston Men Indicted In Attack Of Gay Man On CTA
EVANSTON, Ill. (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
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Sean Little, Benjamin Eder and Kevin McAndrew (left to right) are charged with hate crime and aggravated battery for allegedly beating up a gay Chicago man on board a CTA Red Line train on Jan. 10, 2010.
Chicago Police Department/CBS
Three north suburban men were indicted Wednesday for allegedly harassing and attacking a gay man on a CTA train in January.
Kevin McAndrew and Benjamin Eder, both 23, and Sean Little, 21, all of Evanston, originally faced misdemeanor battery charges stemming from the Jan. 10 incident.
Those charges were dropped and the three were immediately re-arrested as they left court on Feb. 24., police said.
On Wednesday, the three men were each indicted on one count of hate crime and two counts of aggravated battery, according to Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin. The men will appear for arraignment on March 26.
Little, Eder and McAndrew were riding the CTA Red Line train when Little allegedly began verbally harassing and shoving a gay youth, according to a release from the attorney for Daniel Hauff, a Rogers Park man who tried to intervene.
At that point, Little allegedly began directing anti-gay slurs at Hauff and pushed him. Eder and McAndrew, who had been watching, joined in the assault, calling Hauff a "stupid faggot" and all three began punching Hauff's face, bloodying him in front of train passengers, according to the release.
Chicago police say the three men "made disparaging comments" to the 33-year-old Hauff, taunted him and punched him on the train at the Argyle station in Uptown.
Another man tried to help and numerous other passengers pushed the train's emergency button, the release said. A witness confirmed Little had been harassing and shoving a young man for being homosexual.
"No one should have to endure the pain and humiliation of a hate crime, which is a truly repugnant act," State's Atty. Anita Alvarez said in a release. "The damage of a crime such as this goes well beyond the original victim and permeates the entire community."
If convicted, the men face a maximum of five years in prison each.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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