Dart: Beating victim spots 2012 attacker; 2 charged
Two Niles men were arrested in connection with a 2012 beating in Maine Township after the victim recently spotted one of the men and identified him to police as the attacker.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced aggravated battery and mob action charges have been filed against the men he described as “known gang members” after the second man's arrest Aug. 29.
Dart said Najeeb Ahmad, 25, and Rene Garibay, 20, attacked a 37-year-old Skokie man after questioning the victim about his gang affiliation.
Dart said the victim was in his car on the 8800 block of Dee Road on the morning of March 23, 2012, when Ahmad and Garibay pulled up next to him in another vehicle. Dart said Ahmad and Garibay questioned the man about his gang affiliation and asked if he was there to buy drugs. Dart said the victim told the two men he had no gang affiliation and was not there to buy drugs. Dart said the victim got out of his car and was jumped by Ahmad and Garibay, who “punched, kicked and hit the victim in the head with an unknown object before fleeing the scene.”
In July of this year, the victim contacted police and told them he had spotted one of his attackers driving in Niles. Ahmad was arrested on July 31, Dart said. During the course of the investigation, sheriff's detectives identified Garibay as Ahmad's accomplice in the beating. Garibay was already in custody in the Cook County jail on unrelated charges, Dart said. He was arrested last week.
Ahmad is being held in lieu of a $50,000 bond and Garibay is being held on a $350,000 bond, Dart said.