Video: Police Tackle Man Running On Dan Ryan Expressway

By Mae Rice in News on May 17, 2016 9:01PM

A man was apprehended early this morning for running back and forth among the lanes on the southbound Dan Ryan Expressway near the 63rd Street Red Line station. Illinois State Police officers, collaborating with Illinois Department of Transportation officials, performed an "emergency take down" on the man for his own safety, state police told Chicagoist in an email statement. The man's driver's license identified him as Anthony T. Allen, 39, according to state police.

Illinois Department of Transportation officials were first on the scene, and Allen attempted to run away from them, state police said. When state police officers arrived on the scene, Allen was "actively running" and attempting to jump the concrete median between the local and express lanes of the highway. He failed to do so because "his pants were all the [way] down to his ankles," state police said.

Allen told police he was schizophrenic and did not take any medication for the condition; once Allen was apprehended, around 6:30 a.m., he was sent to St. Bernard Hospital in an ambulance. No injuries were reported.

While Allen was running on the highway, he came dangerously close to the Red Line tracks at the 63rd Street El station. The Chicago Transit Authority was first tipped off to the man's presence at roughly 6:15 a.m., a CTA spokesperson said. As a precaution, the CTA briefly cut power on the tracks, resulting in a slight delay on northbound Red Line trains this morning.