CHICAGO (CBS) ― Miguel Andrade was just finishing up work at a Roscoe Village restaurant, trying to walk home, when he was attacked and beaten — not robbed, just beaten.
The injuries are so severe, his pregnant girlfriend lost her breath at the sight of him. Now, both are wondering who would do this and why.
They split his head open, but they left his wallet behind. The busboy and his girlfriend wonder if he was beaten as part of a gang initiation.
Isabel Soto counts the staples and stitches in her boyfriend’s head. He’s got 32 staples and 19 stitches.
He said he’s feeling “much better.”
Over the weekend, Andrade worked a double shift. His route home took him through the West Side of Chicago, where he says he was approached by two teenagers near North and Cicero.
One got close. Next thing you know, Andrade says they set upon him with two-by-fours. Miguel’s wallet was covered in blood. He says he had only $4 in it, but they didn’t touch the money, the credit cards or his cell phones. He said he doesn’t know why they attacked him.
Some of his co-workers from the restaurant visited him in the hospital.
“To hear what happened to him is just ridiculous,” Ashleigh Gocong said.
She says Miguel is the number-one busboy.
“He’s just a working guy,” she said. “It’s not like he can really like pay for what happened.”
Isabel Soto believes all the prayers from Miguel’s friends and co-workers are the reason he pulled through.
“You don’t know how much you love a person until something really bad happens to that person, you know?” she said.
Police said Thursday they are treating the incident as a robbery, for now. They say the two suspects asked for money, and the victim refused.
No suspects are in custody.
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Read the original article from WBBM News Radio.
