Man Accused Of CTA Platform Attack Free on $200K Bond

CHICAGO, IL — A data analyst and recent doctoral graduate from Northwestern University was released on bail Tuesday after he was charged with attempted murder for allegedly shoving a CTA rider onto the tracks at a Blue Line station in the Loop in August. But the lawyer for Chad M. Estep questions how Chicago police identified his client as the suspect in the attack, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The incident happened around 11:30 a.m. Aug. 1 while a 46-year-old man was waiting to board a Blue Line train at the Washington Station, 19 N. Dearborn St. The rider was shoved from the platform by the suspect, who continued to harass the victim while he was on the tracks, according to police. The suspect also blocked the victim from returning to the platform until witnesses came to help, police said.

During Tuesday's bond hearing, prosecutors claim security camera video from the station shows Estep on his cellphone as the victim walks by, the Sun-Times reports. But prosecutors said the two did not have contact with one another on the platform until the actual attack, and no motive was given as to why Estep pushed the victim, the report added. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for Bucktown and Chicago — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

RELATED: Wicker Park Man Arrested For Pushing Rider Onto CTA Tracks

At the time, Chicago police and CTA did not issue a public alert about the attack, believing it was an isolated incident. A video from a station security camera allegedly showing the suspect — but not the attack — was eventually released to the public by police more than a month after the incident.

According to prosecutors, police received anonymous tips following the release of the security footage that helped identify Estep as the suspect in the attack, the Sun-Times reports. Investigators also took the station's security camera footage and compared it with a photo taken from Estep's online résumé, the report added.

Prosecutors said police then checked Estep's cellphone records to verify that he was at the station at the time of the attack, the report stated. Estep also was identified by the victim following his arrest Monday, the report added.

RELATED: Man Pushed CTA Rider Onto Tracks At Loop Blue Line Station

Estep was ordered held on $200,000 bond, which he posted Tuesday. Estep's attorney, Vadim Glozman, indicated in court, however, that his client could only afford $5,000, according to the Sun-Times.

Glozman told reporters after the hearing that there was "very little evidence against Mr. Estep," who he described as a productive member of society with no previous criminal record, the Sun-Times reports. He lives with his wife in the Wicker Park neighborhood.

Estep earned his doctorate degree in neuroscience from Northwestern this spring, and according to his online résumé, he graduated with honors with a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Michigan in 2006.

More via the Chicago Sun-Times

Chad M. Estep, 34 (Photo via Chicago Police Department)

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