Chicago: Black Woman Beats Up Female Bus Driver Who Needed to Go to the Bathroom; was It a Hate Crime?

 

Tabitha Flournoy, 30, charged with felony aggravated battery of a transit employee. (Chicago Police photo / March 10, 2013)
 
Posted by Nicholas Stix

I was wondering if this was a black-on-white, racially motivated attack, since blacks, and particularly black females, are—media myths to the contrary notwithstanding—much more likely to attack a white than another black. However, the demographics of Oak Park don’t help much here. The village has become increasingly black, to the point where it is now only 63.8 percent non-Hispanic white, but 21.7 percent black and 6.8 percent Hispanic.

The Trib runs crime scene addresses for every story. Presumably, Oak Park is listed because that’s where the driver is from, and one of the other addresses is presumably where the attack took place. But there was no explanation as to why there is a third address. Perhaps that was where Tabitha Flournoy was arrested.

* * *
4645 North Western Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
2200 West Catalpa Avenue, Chicago, IL 60625, USA
Oak Park, IL, USA

Prosecutors: Woman attacked CTA driver trying to take bathroom break
By Jennifer Delgado
4:52 p.m. CDT, March 10, 2013
Chicago Tribune

A Chicago woman attacked a CTA bus driver who would not immediately let her board a bus in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood, prosecutors said today.

The 39-year-old bus driver parked the bus at the Brown Line stop at 4645 N. Western Ave. on March 8 to use the washroom when Tabitha Flournoy, 30, asked if she could get on, Assistant State's Attorney Joell Zahr said Sunday in bond court.

The bus driver told Flournoy that she'd have to wait until she returned, but Flournoy became enraged, prosecutors said. She punched the driver multiple times with a closed fist, knocking the glasses off her face, Zahr said.

The driver, of Oak Park, suffered scratches on the left side of her face and neck, according to police reports.

Flournoy, of the 2200 block of West Catalpa Avenue, was charged with felony aggravated battery of a transit employee and ordered held in lieu of $50,000. She was also told to stay away from the driver.

jmdelgado@tribune.com