Updated 10:48 a.m.
Photo: CBS Chicago
A Chicago Police officer was injured while making an arrest and at least one person was reportedly stabbed during multiple incidents overnight in the Boystown neighborhood, hours after the Chicago Pride Parade dissolved.
Earlier in the day, the parade saw record turnout with estimates of over 850,000 and little trouble along the route in the early afternoon. Violence didn’t break out until later in the night, when crowds of revelers continued to linger near the intersections of Belmont and Clark and Belmont and Sheffield — around the Belmont ‘L’ stop.
While officers were directing traffic at the intersections, a fight broke out after 2:30 a.m. in the 900 block of West Belmont. Witnesses alerted the officers and they appeared at the scene at about 2:45 a.m., where they found a male victim with multiple lacerations. The witnesses were able to point out the offender among the people crowded along the street, and when the officers attempted to take him into custody, the man resisted arrest, according to CPD News Affairs Officer Jose Estrada.
As police attempted to make the arrest, the offender fell through a plate glass window at Forever Yogurt, 931 W. Belmont Ave.
“As the plate glass broke, an officer suffered a pretty serious laceration to his hand,” Estrada said. He was then taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Hospital, where he was treated and referred to a specialist due to the severity of the cut.
The offender was arrested and taken to Vanguard Weiss Memorial Hospital and remains in custody. As of Monday morning, he is in the process of being charged.
Estrada said the incident was not necessarily the result of the pride parade crowds, noting that it was a beautiful day and that it is not uncommon for large crowds to visit the area.
Several other fights broke out throughout the night, according to paradegoers.
At midnight, while most of the parade route was cleared up, the Boystown strip between Addison and Belmont remained heavily congested with traffic and pedestrians. Hundreds of teenagers clogged up Halsted Street sidewalks and police and ambulance sirens could be heard every few minutes throughout the area.
Groups were seen playing loud music from their cars while dancing in between traffic near Clark and Belmont, causing even more slowdown. Many were visibly intoxicated.
The crowds remained in the area until just after 5 a.m. Monday, revealing a mess of garbage in the streets and on the sidewalks.
Violence has occurred over the years in the hours after the pride parade, particularly in the area near Belmont and Clark. Last year, a police officer attempted to disperse crowds surrounding cars in the 800 block of West Belmont with an all terrain vehicle, but collided with oncoming traffic. Police would not comment on a video of the incident obtained by Chicago Phoenix.
Ricardo Rosa contributed reporting to this story.
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