5:21 p.m. CDT, June 29, 2012


















A judge set bail today at
$150,000 for a man accused of beating up a 17-year-old lifeguard at a
public pool during a melee yesterday in the University Village
neighborhood on the Near West Side.

Judge James Brown set the
bail for Verdell Parker, 21, of the 7600 block of South Paulina Street,
during today’s noontime bond hearing in Cook County Criminal Court,
according to Cook County state’s attorney’s office spokesman Andy
Conklin.





Police said Parker was charged
with felony aggravated battery to a government employee and violation of
probation for the beating of a 17-year-old boy at Fosco Park public
pool at 1312 S. Racine Ave. on Thursday afternoon, the hottest day in
the last seven years.

Prosecutors said Parker was one of a large group of males who began acting disorderly and disobeying pool rules.

Two
lifeguards and a lifeguard supervisor repeatedly asked them to leave
because they were breaking the rules, but when they finally exited the
pool, someone yelled: “Rush the guards!’’ prosecutors said.

One
of the males in the group grabbed the victim and tried to throw him into
the pool but he resisted and the two struggled and fell to the ground,
prosecutors said.

When the two got up, a group of nine or 10
males including Parker and two or three others surrounded the victim and
pummeled him with their fists multiples times -- causing him to suffer a
broken nose, two loose teeth, a bloody swollen lacerated lip, and
multiple bruises to the face, prosecutors said.

The supervisor
was able to grab the victim and pull him into the lifeguard office and
lock the door. The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and released
a few hours after he was treated.

The suspects fled and were gone by the time police got there, but the victim and witnesses gave their descriptions to police.

Parker was seen minutes after the incident and police arrested him as 5:20 p.m., according to police and prosecutors.

Parker was identified in a physical lineup by the victim, the other lifeguard and their supervisor, prosecutors said.

No video was taken of the attack and none of the other suspects has been identified.

Parker
pleaded guilty to felony theft of more than $50 in December of 2011,
and was sentenced to two years' probation, records show.

Parker
was also sentenced to two days in Cook County Jail in June of 2011 for a
misdemeanor possession of cannabis charge, records show.

Gotta love Illinois!

EDIT: Forgot to add the link

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-1-held-for-lifeguard-beating-20120629,0,4624236.story