Illinois National Guard Spc. Paville Simpson said he acted instinctively when he caught and held three teenagers accused of trying to steal a man's iPhone at a North Side CTA station.
"It was just a reaction," Simpson said. "(The victim) yelled and needed help, so I just helped him."
Simpson said he handcuffed two of the teens together at the CTA Red Line station at North and Clybourn avenues and held the third at gunpoint with the weapon he is allowed to carry as a security guard, before police arrived.
At about 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Simpson was wearing his World Security Agency uniform as he made his way from his home in Lincoln Park to his job at the Bridgeport Homes public housing development, he said.
Simpson, who is also a military police officer with the National Guard, said he had spent the day training in self-defense tactics with his Chicago-based unit.
When Simpson stepped onto the platform to await the train, he saw a man who looked "shaken" as he talked on the phone with emergency dispatchers, the soldier said.
As Simpson heard the man's story about the three alleged robbers ? two 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old, police said later ? he realized he had seen some teens fitting that description on his way to the platform, he said.
"I just thought of my training," he said.
Simpson ran up the steps to an intermediate level of the station, where he found two of the alleged thieves and handcuffed them together without meeting much resistance, he said. A third teen tried to run downstairs before Simpson grabbed him by the collar, he said.
That teenager drew what Simpson thought was a handgun, so the soldier pulled his gun, he said.
Simpson said the teen shouted, "Please don't shoot me. It's a lighter. It's a lighter," before igniting a tiny flame from barrel.
"I said to him, 'You could have been shot,'" Simpson said.
The three teens are charged with felony attempted aggravated robbery, two of them as juveniles. The 17-year-old, Donte Jackson, of Chicago, was charged as an adult, and Cook County Judge Laura M. Sullivan ordered him held in lieu of $100,000 bail Sunday.
Jackson is also charged with aggravated assault and is named in a warrant charging him with a prior robbery, according to police and court records.
One of the 16-year-olds faces warrants charging him with a prior aggravated battery and burglary, police said.
Simpson's military superiors showered him with praise Sunday as he absorbed the "surreal" experience of seeing his actions discussed on television news.
Lt. Col. Maurice Rochelle, of Flossmoor, the officer in charge for the 404th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, praised the soldier for putting his training to use.
"I think this is tremendous," Rochelle said in a release. "What he did is amazing."
Tribune reporter Jeremy Gorner contributed.
dhinkel@tribune.com
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