A maniac allegedly recorded himself fatally stabbing a sleeping train passenger on the same Chicago Transit Authority line 26-year-old where Bethany MaGee was set on fire by a lunatic with a extensive rap sheet just two months ago, according to prosecutors.
Demetrius Thurman, 40, allegedly crept up behind sleeping 37-year-old Dominique Pollion on the Blue Line train with his phone in one hand and a knife in the other and hit record before he stabbed Pollion in the chest and abdomen around 2:15 a.m. Saturday, CBS News reported.
Pollion, who had been asleep for about an hour, woke up screaming and backed away from Thurman, who pursued him before turning his camera into selfie mode as Pollion collapsed, prosecutors claimed at Thurman’s first hearing on Tuesday.
Thurman switched train cars and when the train stopped at the Clark/Lake station in the Loop, a passenger alerted security about Pollion — but he was wearing so many layers of clothing, it was not immediately clear that he had been stabbed, prosecutors said.
Thurman, who was still recording the scene from the platform, then turned his phone toward him and said, “Somebody got his ass” before fleeing the station, prosecutors allege.
Pollion was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where he died from his wounds.
The senseless attack was also caught on CTV surveillance footage. Thurman was identified through a facial recognition program and was arrested the next day on Canal Street still wearing the same clothes he had on during the stabbing.
Police seized his cellphone and discovered the grisly point-of-view footage of the attack after obtaining a search warrant.
The deadly stabbing comes months after MaGee, 26, was riding the Blue Line train Nov. 17 when Lawrence Reed, a repeat offender with prior 72 arrests, doused her with gasoline and set her ablaze.
While engulfed in flames, she managed to hop off the train at the same Clark/Lake station, collapsing on the platform, where good Samaritans jumped in to help.
MaGee was hospitalized in critical condition, suffering burns on more than 60% of her body.
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Reed allegedly shouted, “Burn alive, bitch” when he was arrested before he was locked up on federal terrorism charges, which carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Thurman — who suffers from mental health problems, according to his attorney — has been charged with first-degree murder. He is being held in the Cook County jail without bond, jail records show, and is scheduled appear in court again on Feb. 3.
Safety has been an ongoing issue for Chicago’s public transit.
The Trump administration has given the agency a mid-March deadline to improve safety or risk losing $50 million in federal funding, according to CBS.
In December, CTA announced that dozens more Chicago police officers and security guards would be deployed along the bus and train system.
