An incident in Chicago involved a panhandler pushing an 82-year-old woman to the ground last month, resulting in a broken knee after she declined to give him money. This was reported by local news outlets, citing city officials.
According to prosecutors, 49-year-old Dionlance was asking for money near a McDonald’s drive-thru on West Wilson Avenue around 10 AM on September 15th.
Prosecutors mentioned that surveillance footage captured the assailant following the woman closely before he pushed her, causing her to fall directly onto the concrete. She screamed in pain as he walked away.
Witnesses quickly came to her aid and helped her return to her nearby apartment. While there, someone called 911. She was later transported to a medical facility with her knee injury, along with other facial and bodily injuries, as detailed by the prosecutors.
Police reviewed the surveillance material and recognized Lance, leading them to create a lineup for identification; however, the victim, who has cataracts, was unable to identify him, as noted in the detention application.
Officers eventually located Lance walking along North Clark and arrested him.
Prosecutors claimed that, although Lance had asked the woman for money, he asserted that he pushed her after she used a derogatory term in Chinese. Interestingly, reports noted that the victim actually speaks Japanese.
Lance mentioned to the authorities that he learned from a Chinese acquaintance during school, according to the same reports.
Furthermore, Lance told investigators that, in his view, “people in Uptown are racist and don’t give money.”
Judge James Murphy III ordered that Lance remain detained on aggravated battery charges and additional charges related to public disturbances. According to prison records, he was booked on September 18th without bail and was still in custody as of Wednesday morning. His next court appearance is set for October 10th.
