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Man Charged With Choking 8-Year-Old Girl To Unconsciousness In Restroom

By Mae Rice in News on May 13, 2016 3:17PM

A man has been charged with two felonies for choking an eight-year-old girl to unconsciousness in a South Loop public bathroom last weekend.

The girl and her mother separated while using the restroom of a business in the 1200 block of South Canal Street at 1:15 p.m. Saturday, police said. The mother heard her daughter yell, and reportedly found that a man had carried her daughter into a stall and choked her with his hands.

The mother grabbed her unconscious daughter and took her to Comer's Children Hospital. Police said the girl's condition was unknown.

Reese Hartstirn, 33, was taken into custody at the scene of the incident and charged with a felony count of aggravated kidnapping and a felony count of aggravated battery to a child. He was also charged with two misdemeanors for resisting arrest: one for simple battery, and another for aggravated assault to a police officer.

At his Monday court appearance, he was ordered held without bond. Hartstirn will appear in court again on May 16.