Charges against two men were dropped after their attorneys used city surveillance footage to prove the men weren’t involved in an attack and robbery of a 60-year-old man last summer in Uptown.
Chicago police arrested Omareon Coleman and Samuel Gaines, both 19 at the time, when the victim identified them as two of the four assailants who punched and kicked him and stole $25 from him July 17 in an alley in the 4400 block of North Malden Street, according to arrest reports.
Two 16-year-old boys were also arrested and charged with robbery, but charges were dropped less than two weeks later.
The victim had also misidentified another person as a suspect, but he quickly recanted, according to defense attorneys with the law firm Winston & Strawn.
The victim was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center to be treated for injuries to his head and back, the report said.
Defense lawyers obtained surveillance video footage from the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Housing Authority and a nearby condominium, all of which showed the victim initiating a drug transaction with several dealers and being assaulted by them, the law firm said in a statement.
Lawyers representing Coleman also worked with the retail company Instacart to obtain location records showing that he was delivering an order at a different location at the time of the robbery, the law firm said.
“Despite having an alibi for where he was when the crime occurred, our client was arrested and charged,” Winston & Strawn said in a statement.
The robbery, aggravated battery and unlawful restraint charges against Coleman and Gaines were both dropped Jan. 15, a day before both of their cases were scheduled to go to trial.
No other arrests have been announced in relation to the attack and robbery.