Pregnant Teen Beaten On Chicago Bus, But Good Samaritans Help During And After Attack

CHICAGO, IL — A pregnant teenage bus passenger is thankful for the efforts of two good Samaritans who came to her aid earlier this week after a fellow CTA rider began suddenly and violently beating her while the two were traveling on a bus on the Southwest Side. The CTA driver of the Western Express 49 bus Monday morning in the Gage Park neighborhood was the first to help out. He pulled the alleged attacker off the victim and the bus, holding him for police.

In the aftermath of the attack, a 32-year-old woman who witnessed the horrible incident also stepped up. Christina Robles-Favela — an employee at a Beverly assisted living facility who didn't know "Brenda," the victim, before the attack — first provided support for the pregnant woman immediately following the beating by staying by her side and helping her navigate the battery of medical tests and police questions in the wake of what had occurred. Robles-Favela then created an online fundraising campaign for Brenda, agreed to host a baby shower for the teen and even invited this stranger who she now considers family to stay in her and her husband's new home on the West Side. Brenda, for her part, responded to the couple's good deeds by asking them to be her soon-to-be-born son's godparents.

The unprovoked violence that led to this outpouring of kindness began before 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 28, on a CTA bus traveling north in the 4900 block of South Western Avenue, NBC 5 Chicago reports. According to Robles-Favela, who wrote about the incident on Brenda's GoFundMe page, the CTA driver was dealing with an "unruly passenger," who eventually decided to exit the bus after he was asked to do so earlier. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest news for the South Side and Chicago — or other neighborhoods. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

As the man walked from the back of the bus to get off, he stopped at the front — which has seating for the elderly and disabled as well as pregnant women — and unexpectedly began beating Brenda, wrote Robles-Favela, who described the violence she witnessed:

"All I can hear is her yelling and screaming for him to stop, he continued beating her with a closed fists, I saw people get up & move out the way but there were so many on their phones recording this brutal attack!!! NOT ONE person got up [to] remove this man from beating this young girl. He just continued wailing on her.

"At this point she went into a fetal position while trying to cover her face. I could hear her screaming over and over and over. HE DID NOT STOP. HE CONTINUED!! He was beating her with closed fists and with both hands. I didn't know what to do. I jumped up. I don't know why but I went directly to him and I began screaming, begging and yelling at him to stop. I even said 'PLEASE STOP HITTING HER!! PLEASE!' HE DID NOT.

"At this point all I could hear was this young girl sobbing and begging him to stop while simultaneously hearing the other passengers yell to the bus driver (he was still trying to get a hold of the police) 'SHE IS PREGNANT!!! HE IS BEATING HER UP!' I became absolutely frantic, there was no way I would be able to pull this man off of her. … Thank God the bus driver ran into the bus dragged him off off of her."

Once the driver pulled the man off Brenda, he then took him off the bus and waited for police, NBC 5 reports. The accused attacker, Steven Bailey, 21, was arrested and charged with felony aggravated battery of a pregnant woman, aggravated battery of a transit employee and aggravated battery in a public space. He was taken to Holy Cross Hospital, according to NBC 5, and Robles-Favela said Bailey, who appears to be wearing a hospital gown in his mug shot, was hospitalized because he was Tasered by police.

The reason why Bailey allegedly attacked Brenda — the two had not known each other before Monday's incident — has not been given. Robles-Favela says she heard Bailey use an ethnic slur and say, "This is because you're Mexican," during the attack.

"We have never heard [Brenda] speak in a negative way toward her [alleged] attacker[;] she just wants to know why he did this to her," Robles-Favela wrote.

While the bus driver refused medical treatment at the scene, Brenda was taken to Holy Cross, too, according to NBC 5. She suffered swelling and lacerations to the head and body, the report added.

"Her hands were extremely swollen and bruised along with her wrist because she covered most of her attacker's blows shielding herself," Robles-Favela wrote concerning Brenda's injuries. "She has a massive bloodied bump on the top of her head. Her attacker repeatedly struck her in the same areas. The initial and most severe blows were to her head and nose. She has numerous bloody bumps all over her head due to this.

"She had to have x-rays on her left arm which is now in a splint and sling. Due to her pregnancy they could not give her any sort of pain medication except for Tylenol. She [has] severe swelling and bruising to her face, her entire head, hands and forearms. She has told us her entire jaw hurts extremely bad. She did have ultra sounds, her baby boy appears to be okay for now. She will have to follow up with her OBGYN."

While waiting for the paramedics, Robles-Favela said she tried to stop the continuous bleeding from Brenda's nose. And when it was time to go the hospital, she asked Brenda if she wanted company on the trip, despite encountering the pregnant woman for the first time that morning.

"I have never met Brenda prior to this," Robles-Favela wrote. "She is scared, confused and in severe pain. I asked her if she wanted me to go to the hospital with her. She said yes."

At the hospital, Robles-Favela called her husband, David, and he came to Holy Cross, as well. The couple stayed with Brenda as she answered police questions while being treated for her injuries and remained even after the pregnant woman's mother left to attend to Brenda's younger siblings.

And the couple's help didn't end at the hospital. According to DNAinfo, Robles-Favela offered to throw a baby shower for the young mother-to-be, and she also invited Brenda, who currently lives with her boyfriend, to stay with the couple in their new home in the Little Village neighborhood. It's an invitation that Brenda is still thinking over, the report added.

Finally, Robles-Favela created a GoFundMe campaign to help raise money to cover Brenda's medical bills and other expenses stemming from the attack, as well as the expenses connected to the birth of her son (Brenda's due date is Oct. 23, according to Robles-Favela). In about two days, the now-closed campaign raised $8,890, and Brenda has been "extremely taken aback by everyone's kindness," Robles-Favela wrote.

Brenda plans to return to work in about a week, and since the attack, she has only been using Lyft to get from place to place, still fearful of using public transportation, Robles-Favela wrote. In fact, Robles-Favela said she hoped some of the money from the GoFundMe fundraiser could be put toward a buying a used car for Brenda.

Robles-Favela and her husband's generosity hasn't gone unappreciated by Brenda. As a thank-you gesture, the pregnant mother asked the couple to be her son's godparents. And for Brenda and Robles-Favela, that gesture is emblematic of possibly the best thing to come from such a violent act: the forging of a special, uplifting bond between two strangers who were brought together by horrific circumstances.

"We do not need to know a person to help," Robles-Favela wrote on the GoFundMe page. "Before this incident I have never seen or met Brenda in my life. My husband and I now consider her family. We are doing our absolute best to assist her in anyway possible."

"So many good things come into fruition out of this horrible situation," she added.

More via NBC 5 Chicago and DNAinfo

"Brenda," an 18-year-old pregnant woman who was attacked while she was riding a CTA bus on Monday, Aug. 28. (Photo via GoFundMe)

Like What You're Reading? Stay Patched In!

• Like our Crime page on Facebook
• Check out the Events Calendar for what’s going on