In just over 30 minutes, a man allegedly tried to kidnap a woman in the West Loop and attacked two other women in the South Loop on Sunday — a day after he was released from custody on charges of failing to register as a sex offender.
Quavon Ewing, 32, approached the women as they went about their day, prosecutors said Wednesday. One was headed to the gym, another had just grabbed coffee, and the third was catching a train.
Around 8:30 a.m., a 35-year-old woman saw Ewing standing by a maroon van in the 100 block of West Roosevelt Road, prosecutors said during his initial court hearing Wednesday. He was urinating and possibly exposing himself, prosecutors said.
He tried to strike up a conversation, but the woman couldn’t hear because she was listening to an audio book on her way to work out, prosecutors said. He grabbed her by the shoulders and “pulled her into a bear hug,” making moaning sounds and “calling her baby,” prosecutors said.
The woman hit him with her cellphone and bit his neck, sending him running to the van, prosecutors said. After he fled, she said she went to a store and called for help.
About 15 minutes later, Ewing targeted a 45-year-old woman who was walking home from Starbucks in the 200 block of South Sangamon Street, prosecutors said.
After jumping in front of her and grabbing her shoulders, Ewing tried to pull her into the van, prosecutors said. When she started screaming, he punched her in her head, they said.
Prosecutors said someone heard the woman’s cries and confronted Ewing, who grabbed an object from the van and threatened the witness before taking off. The van was captured fleeing the scene in a now-viral video.
Then just after 9 a.m., Ewing was seen on surveillance video urinating in a cup at the Harrison Red Line stop, prosecutors said. He later poured the cup on a 25-year-old woman entering the station, covering her hair, face and purse, they said.
Before leaving, Ewing told the woman “she deserved it,” prosecutors said.
The woman at the Red Line stop and the victim in the first attack identified Ewing in photo lineups, according to prosecutors. He was arrested Monday after CTA personnel recognized him from a police alert and notified the police department’s mass transit unit, according to an arrest report.
Ewing has been arrested dozens of times and has multiple felony convictions, including for aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated battery to a peace officer and aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
Last Friday, two days before the attacks, Ewing walked into the Englewood District police station and surrendered on an outstanding warrant, the arrest report states. Officers discovered he hadn’t registered as a sex offender, and he was charged with a felony. He was released from custody the next day on a recognizance bond.
He now faces felony counts of attempted kidnapping and aggravated battery. On Wednesday, Judge Kelly McCarthy ordered him held on $500,000 bail.
His next court date was set for Oct. 19.
