Markiesha Tyler, 19, shows a bruised eye and scratches on her face Saturday. (Abel Uribe, Chicago Tribune)
Three female relatives were beaten by a group of about 20 attackers when ordering dinner for their family last Friday evening, April 6th, at a Burger King in the city's Chatham neighborhood, police and witnesses said.
A 16-year-old boy was arrested and charged as a juvenile with one count of battery, police said.
Police responded to a battery in progress at about 8 p.m. Friday at the Burger King, 28 E.87th St., said Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak, citing information from a police report.
According to the preliminary police report, the victims were ordering their food when a male told one of the women he was going to beat them if they didn't leave the restaurant.
When they didn't leave, a group of males and females they did not know ran toward the victims and began beating and kicking them before fleeing the scene, according to the preliminary report.
One of the victims, Michelle Pearson, 18, said she and her cousins, Markiesha Tyler, 19, and Sierra Montgomery, 20, went to the Burger King about 6 p.m. Friday to get dinner for their children and family.
Pearson said the altercation started when a female accused her of "looking at her." That female went outside but returned with a group of about 15 males and 5 females.
"I tried to talk to them but no one was listening," she said, thinking that someone in the group would be able to defuse the situation.
She said the group then cornered her and her cousins by a pop machine and started attacking them.
"They bashed our heads, stomped us, beat us, everything," Pearson said.
She described one of the attackers as at least 200 pounds. "I could feel her stomping me."
Pearson's mother, Rochetta Tyler, 41, who was on the phone with her daughter before the attack, said she heard the commotion and called the police several times.
"I see the news, I see what's going on. I never thought it would be my daughter to experience this," she said. "How did this happen, what if they would've died?"
"These kids are killing kids. They're reckless," Rochetta Tyler said.
Tyler, who lives in the area, said her children should be able to go to the restaurant without getting beaten.
"It looks beautiful but looks can be deceiving," she said.
According to police reports, officers canvassed the area Friday night with the victims, and a 16-year-old boy was arrested at 9:05 p.m. at another restaurant across the street.
That juvenile was charged with battery in the case and released to an adult, said Police News Affairs Officer Daniel O'Brien.
Rochetta Tyler said the police response was not quick enough to stop the beating because she made her first phone calls before the attack happened.
O'Brien did not know when the first phone call was received, saying that information would have to come from the Office of Emergency Management, which runs the 911 dispatch center.
A representative for the OEMC said Saturday night that a Freedom of Information Act request would have to be filed before that information was released.
According to police reports, two victims were treated at the scene by paramedics but refused to be taken to the hospital. Police could not confirm that there was a third victim; family members said she had already been taken to Holy Cross Hospital for her injuries by the time police arrived.
A manager at the Burger King Saturday afternoon said she had no knowledge of the incident and referred all calls to a corporate office, where no representative was available.
