Tourists Scared off By Wilding

FROM SECOND CITY COP

Here comes the tourism hit:

• No one was seriously hurt in the flurry of five random attacks by a mob of young men on Chicago's lakefront over the weekend.
  But the feeling among many visitors and residents that the popular Near North Side stretch where the attacks occurred is safe for strolling on a summer night may have taken a hit.
  "I think it reflects badly on Chicago," said Dr. Jack Singer, 68, a Seattle oncologist who was one of two victims in town for a convention of cancer specialists at McCormick Place. "I've been coming to the convention every year, and this is the first time I've felt threatened downtown."

So everyone can just relax now - no one was seriously hurt. And the Super-to-be has vowed revenge on all the evil-doers:

• Acting police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters this afternoon at City Hall that, while he's satisfied with how the police handled the mob action incidents downtown over the weekend, he'll not be completely satisfied until he's got every offender in custody.
  "The strategy to prevent that from occurring again is not to be satisfied when 10 kids commit an infraction and arrest three of them. The answer is were going to go after all 10 of them," McCarthy said. "We're going to find every one of them, and we're going to prosecute and arrest every single one of them."

Wait a second....wasn't it all blamed on the "heat" a few days ago? No gang issues whatsoever? Wasn't the quote something along the lines of "..what gang problem?" We're having a lot of trouble keeping all the stories straight. Does someone have a program? A lineup card? Something?

AND....

Blame the Victim

Ridiculous:

• McCarthy stressed the importance of awareness, telling reporters, "You don't want to walk in dark areas by yourself after having a fight at a bar with a friend and you're going home. We still have to pay attention to common sense things to do. ... That's the nature of the world today."

Then the victim speaks in the Sun Times:

• Wilkowski said he decided to drive downtown from his northwest suburban home because he wanted to get some shoes and "take a ride."
  
  He said he was sitting on his bike, checking his cell phone around 7:30 p.m. on Chicago Avenue just east of Michigan Avenue when he was attacked.
  
  "I couldn't believe it. It was broad daylight outside, there were people around, and this happened," he said. "There were about 20 guys surrounding me. I saw one guy running after the ball, I guess they didn't want to lose it. Then I saw a bunch of people coming after me."

Wilkowski wasn't coming from a bar. Wilkowski wasn't even headed home, he was going shopping. And we just happened to glance at our phone clock around 7:33 PM Monday and guess what? Broad daylight. In fact, we had enough daylight to hit a 16" softball about three feet over the second baseman for a nice RBI single 15 minutes later (we lost later though).

We also doubt that the oncologist from Seattle and the other doctor from Japan were out fighting at a bar, getting drunk and generally making themselves victims. But we can see exactly why Rahm wants to keep a lid on this story and the potential fallout when word gets back to these doctors' homes that Chicago is a place to avoid.