AirTag used to find suspects in attack on Red Line

Two men are charged with beating a food delivery driver and stealing his electric bike last week on a CTA Red Line train on the South Side.

A 20-year-old man boarded an inbound train at 69th Street about 8 a.m. Dec. 22. After the 35th Street station, one of the two men displayed a knife while the other put the victim in a choke-hold, according to court documents.

Both suspects punched the man several times in the face and body. They took his electric bike and headphones, got off the train at Cermak Road then boarded a southbound train, prosecutors said.

The victim had an Apple AirTag on his bike, which officers used, along with CTA surveillance footage, to track the men to a motel in the 7600 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue in Greater Grand Crossing, where they were taken into custody within an hour of the attack, prosecutors said.

Christopher Owens, 20, and Claude Elder, 44, are each charged with one felony count of aggravated battery and aggravated robbery. They were both ordered held in custody pending trial.

Their next court dates were set for Monday.