Three men in a white tow truck attacked a CBS Chicago reporter and photographer near the Adler Planetarium in Chicago on Monday afternoon. The crew got away unharmed, but the camera and news truck were damaged before police later made three arrests in a separate Brighton Park incident involving the same tow truck.
East Solidarity Drive attack
The confrontation happened just before 4:30 p.m. on the 900 block of East Solidarity Drive, as the crew was preparing to go on the air for the 4 p.m. newscast. One witness said the tow truck parked directly in front of the news van and that the men were trying to frighten the crew.
“They just were trying to do anything they could to scare them unnecessarily. It came out of nowhere,” the witness said. Another witness said, “It started racial with the cameraman because he's an African American male,” after the man with the dog moved aggressively toward the crew and shouted racial slurs.
The same witness said the man ordered the dog to attack, but it did not. When one crew member defended himself from the dog, the other two men jumped out. One smashed the photographer's camera, and another smashed the windshield of the news truck with a traffic cone.
Brighton Park arrests
About 20 minutes later, Chicago police received reports about the same tow truck near 42nd and Western in Brighton Park because the occupants were pointing a gun at people on the sidewalk. The driver sped off before officers caught up, then the truck crashed into a squad car and all three occupants jumped out.
A gun was recovered from the tow truck after that crash. One witness said, “We didn't see any guns in that moment, but to know that it escalated to that or could of been that is just terrifying,” adding the later recovery changed how the first attack looked in real time.
Chicago police said charges are pending, and the investigation remains open. For the crew, the immediate result is narrower than the later police response: they were not hurt, but their equipment and vehicle were damaged in an attack that was followed by a gun recovery and arrests tied to the same tow truck.
The CBS spokesperson said, “We are shocked and horrified by this crime and we are grateful that our journalists are safe.”
