Woman Spit On CTA Agent, Purple Line Patron In Wheelchair, Police Told

SKOKIE, IL — A Chicago woman faces a felony charge for allegedly spitting on a Chicago Transit Authority employee and disabled CTA Purple Line traveler in Evanston.

"I prefer to get swung on, rather than to get spat on, " the CTA staffer said.

Imani Simpson, 24, appeared in court Tuesday in Skokie for a preliminary hearing on one count of aggravated battery in connection with the July 15 incident at the Davis Street station, 1618 Benson Ave.

That evening, Simpson gesticulated at CTA station agent, waving at him as if she needed help or directions, he testified. But as soon as he emerged from the booth and asked if she needed anything, she pulled out her phone and began to threaten him.

"There was no conversation, there was just a verbal rampage, cussing, video recording with the phone," the agent testified.

The entire encounter was also captured on CTA security video, according to the agent.

"She said that, 'I'm recording you and I'm going to have my boyfriend come over here and shoot you in the face," he said.

The CTA agent testified that he tried to walk away and assist a patron in a wheelchair and her two companions.

"I asked them how can I help them, while she was steady-on swearing," he said.

But as he helped them, Simpson continued to follow him as they went to the elevator and boarded it. As the door was closing, she then spat on the attendant and the woman in the wheelchair, he testified.

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An Evanston police spokesperson said officers arrested Simpson hiding in the corner of the last car on a CTA Purple Line train at the Foster Street station, where she had reportedly created a disturbance.

A 911 caller reported that Simpson had a knife and pointed her out to police. That person, like the person in the wheelchair, declined to press charges against her.

Simpson, who is ordered not to return to the Davis Street station or have contact with the CTA employee, is due back in court Aug. 20 in Skokie.