Why Are Deranged People Walking Chicago’s Streets?

I saw this story out of Chicago today and it made me think of all the similar stories in places like Seattle, Portland and New York. The person in this story is a violent offender named William Livingston who has a long history of punching random women in the face and then walking away. 

Livingston has been arrested dozens of times and even gone to prison in the past, but no matter how many times this happens, he is always back on the street and going back to the same violent behavior. This week he was arrested yet again for two violent attacks that occurred in June.

A Chicago man who has a long criminal record of physically attacking random people has been arrested and charged with felonies for two random attacks in June…

One of those victims, Anne Kurze, identified him from a police lineup as her attacker.

“He stood about this far from me, and punched me, and then kept walking north up the street,” she told CBS News Investigative Reporter Dave Savini…

“Any day he is off the street is a good day,” she said. “It does stir up a lot of big feelings, a lot of free floating anxiety, fear, that feeling of being so scared back in June.”

Kurze literally picked Livingston out of a lineup and police…let him walk. No charges for his attack on her or another women attacked around the same time. She waited to hear from police and then a few months later, Livingston’s face appeared on television.

She hoped to hear from Chicago police about an arrest, but months went by without a word. Then, last week, she saw her accused attacker’s face again all over the news for another attack.

“I saw his picture on the TV, and I had been fine, and then I just started crying, because it was really unexpected to see him on the TV,” she said through tears…

“Why isn’t the system keeping this guy off the streets? Why do I have to be in this neighborhood and be afraid?” Kurze said.

That’s the same question that Livingston’s next victim, Kathleen Miles, was asking in September after he snuck up behind her and knocked her out. The punch broke her nose and fractured bones in her face.

Kathleen Miles was his latest victim…She said he blindsided her last month, knocking her out cold as she was on her way to the train station. She said he came “out of nowhere.”

“He broke my face. He hit me with so much force,” she said. “I have a break. It’s just above where my jaw sets in the orbital bone, which is around the eye.”…

“It makes me wonder that, because there’s no consequence for any of this type of behavior, that now it is getting bigger and worse,” Miles said.

So, to sum up so far, two women were attacked in June and Livingston was ID’d but walked. Then he attacked three more women in September and this time they actually charged him and held him in jail. So the arrest that happened this week was a case of the cops arresting someone already in jail.

The real problem here is that the June attacks weren’t the first ones. Livingston has been arrested at least 26 times. In 2022 he committed similar crimes.

Cami Blechschmidt says she just left Starbucks at the intersection of Jackson and Wabash when she encountered someone she’d never met…

“I felt a hand in my pocket. I turned my head and there was a man directly in front of me and he punched me directly in the face,” Blechschmidt said. “We made eye contact and he just had pure hate in his eyes. Just anger, pure anger.” 

Blechschmidt said she was knocked to the ground as the man walked off. 

“I was in complete shock and started crying,” she said…

“Another girl who was punched, she came up crying,” Blechschmidt said. “She said ‘he punched me too.’”

In all, Livington had punched four different women in about 20 minutes. He was arrested and eventually sentenced to five years for those attacks. But of course he didn’t serve that much time.

In 2022, Livingston was given his longest sentence – 5 years in prison, but court records show he served less than two years before he was set free.

And even the 2022 attacks weren’t his first brushes with the law.

According to Chicago police records, Livingston has been arrested multiple times — including twice in 2017 for battery — and he faced aggravated assault charges in 2016 and 2015.

Maybe Livingston has mental problems or maybe he just hates women. Either way, there’s no excuse for leaving him on the street this long. He should have been charged immediately after the June attacks instead of being released. It’s time for the city to stop dropping the ball. Put this guy in jail for a decade and then only release him on probation so he can immediately be sent back if he does it again. At this point, it doesn’t really matter if he gets the help he needs or not. What matters first is protecting other innocent people. And then, once that’s done and women don’t have to be afraid of random attacks in broad daylight, then the city can try to get him some help and medication if needed. Lock him up, Chicago!

Here’s CBS News Chicago’s report on the revolving door that kept Livingston on the street.

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