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Junkie
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Woman beats up would-be rapist
There have been a few cases of women being attacked either on the CTA in broad daylight or shortly after getting off. I wish we could read more stories like this. What I find unsettling is that when he was arrested, he had the woman's driver's license. It's a good thing he was caught.
Story can be found here
Quote:
Woman fights off man accused of rape
January 4, 2005
BY MAUREEN O'DONNELL Staff Reporter Advertisement
He crisscrossed the city by CTA, police say, using his knowledge of neighborhoods to hunt for victims in Wrigleyville.
He never counted on meeting up with a street-smart woman who used her fists, her wits and a cell phone to outsmart him.
After the woman fought back with all the strength she had, Paul Cruikshank was so sore "he asked for paramedics,'' said Detective Pete Morrissette. "She gave pretty good.
"She probably saved a number of other women an untold amount of grief."
"Without a doubt'' she's a hero, Forest Park Sgt. Steve Zanoni said. "She did one heck of a job that night."
Wanted in Wrigleyville
Cruikshank, 24, of the 4000 block of West Cullerton, is due in court today on charges including aggravated kidnapping and aggravated criminal sexual assault after police said he gave videotaped "remorseful comments'' about the crimes.
He's been charged in attacks on women on North Sheffield Avenue on Dec. 18 and 20, as well as the assault of the woman in Forest Park whose vigorous self-defense led to his arrest. Police are still searching for a second man in a separate assault in the Wrigleyville area.
Cruikshank, a laborer, knew the city and suburbs well from traveling the CTA, said Belmont Area Cmdr. Michael Chasen. In fact, he allegedly trailed the woman as she left the Blue Line train at Circle Avenue in Forest Park as she headed to visit friends about 11 p.m. on New Year's Eve.
She had traveled from her home in Wrigleyville, using the Red Line before switching to the Forest Park branch of the Blue Line. Police said they aren't sure whether he actually began stalking her in Wrigleyville. The woman does remember seeing him on the Blue Line before she got off, police said.
Armed with an ice pick and masking tape, Cruikshank trailed her for several blocks, then grabbed her arm and tried to force her into an alley, Zanoni said.
Cruikshank is about 5-foot-10 and 150 pounds, while the woman, in her early 20s, is about 5-foot-6 and of average weight, police said.
"She realized, 'If we go into the alley, something bad is going to happen,' '' Morrissette said.
" 'I'm sorry, I just can't do that,' '' she said, and adrenaline kicked in and she fought back, he said.
She "told us that she started punching him several times and kicking him,'' Zanoni said.
A neighbor came out and asked if there was trouble, but Cruikshank said, " 'It's an old girlfriend, it's OK,' '' Morrissette said.
Police stop bus
"Her face was covered in blood,'' Zanoni said, but she managed to call 911 as Cruikshank fled and tried to board a Pace bus on Harlem Avenue.
Oak Park police heard about the assault on the radio, and Oak Park Officer Chris Pedicini and Detective Jim Sperandio stopped the bus by book-ending it with their squad cars. They said they found Cruikshank trying to hide behind a seat.
He was carrying an ice pick, duct tape, a license belonging to the woman in the Forest Park assault and jewelry that police are still trying to identify, a law enforcement source said.
Link to earlier case
The victim of the Forest Park attack knew about the Wrigleyville assaults and told Forest Park investigators "this could have been the same guy,'' Morrissette said. They checked out the Chicago police composite sketch and realized "this looked just like him,'' he said.
The Oak Park officers who nabbed Cruikshank also thought he resembled the man wanted in the Wrigleyville cases, and Chicago police were called in.
Cruikshank has no known criminal record, Chasen said. A woman who answered the phone at his home -- and identified herself as his grandmother -- said he wasn't struggling with any problems she knew of, even though he was jobless. Of the charges, she said: "I don't believe them.'' He previously attended Holy Trinity High School in Chicago, she said.
Cruikshank was mentioned in a 2003 Chicago Sun-Times story about students receiving culinary training at Academy Bakery, 1239 S. Pulaski. He was learning to make pastry there, according to his grandmother.
Chasen singled out the victims of the attacks in Wrigleyville for their courage, saying they "assisted our detectives in hours of interviews and creating of composites.''
Tracing use of an ATM card stolen from one of the victims in Wrigleyville was a key part of the investigation, Chasen said.
Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) praised police, the CAPS program and the public for their vigilance.
Unsolved cases
"We've got somebody behind bars within a week,'' he said. "Now that's pretty incredible.''
In the unsolved Wrigleyville case, a woman entering her apartment in the 3700 block of North Wilton Avenue on Dec. 19 was forced inside and sexually assaulted. DNA evidence shows it is not linked to Cruikshank, police said.
Authorities also were searching for a man who attacked a woman Monday on the 54/Cermak Branch of the Blue Line, formerly the Douglas branch.
Contributing: STEFANO ESPOSITO
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__________________
"I can normally tell how intelligent a man is by how stupid he thinks I am" - Cormac McCarthy, All The Pretty Horses
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