Schaumburg police honor man who stopped attack

While Rajesh Thakkar has lost all vision in his right eye, he has been making slow and steady progress in his recovery from a coma-inducing hammer attack in March.

But the 58-year-old Schaumburg man's fate might have been much worse were it not for the timely intervention of a neighbor.

Fred Ludwig, 27, will receive a Letter of Appreciation from Schaumburg Police Chief Brian Howerton today for the role he played in saving Thakkar from what prosecutors charge was an armed robbery and attempted murder by a 15-year-old girl who lived in the same apartment building.

Howerton said the department appreciates Ludwig for stopping a crime in progress, alerting authorities and extensive help in the follow-up investigation.

"This was the first and only 911 call that we received," Howerton said of Ludwig's contribution. "His actions could have contributed to saving this victim's life."

Ludwig said he was in his upper-floor apartment watching a program on his laptop with earbuds close to midnight March 29.

Despite the sound in his ears and the fact his window was nearly closed, he became aware of a noisy commotion taking place outside.

"I heard what sounded like two raccoons fighting," Ludwig said.

He looked through the window and said he recognized a girl who lived on the first floor dragging a beaten, bloodied person he couldn't recognize toward a man-made pond next to the building.

Though he instantly knew something was wrong, he said he didn't immediately interpret the grisly scene as a crime in progress.

The victim, Thakkar, was so bloody and disfigured from the beating that Ludwig couldn't tell if he was a man or a woman, much less recognize him as his downstairs neighbor. His first guess was that the girl was trying to rescue her mother from a domestic abuse incident.

The pair were about 15 feet from the pond, approximately 20 seconds away at the rate they were moving toward it.

"I said, 'Hey, what's going on!'" Ludwig said.

The girl looked up, made eye contact with him, and spoke one syllable he couldn't hear. She then put Thakkar down and came back into the building.

Ludwig immediately called 911 to report that someone was in trouble.

He then heard the girl's footsteps coming up the stairs and went out his door to meet her. She had blood on her hands but was carrying no weapon.

She asked if she could clean her hands and use his phone. Still believing that she'd been helping her mother, Ludwig agreed.

Though he hadn't had a lot of contact with the girl, Ludwig said she seemed nice during the two or three years she lived in the building. She often said hello to him, but he'd heard she'd sometimes gotten into fights at school.

The girl wiped her hands off with paper towels and picked up the phone. Ludwig began revising his idea of what he'd seen when the girl called her mother downstairs and started getting upset, telling her she was scared.

She made particular reference to "his eye, his eye," but Ludwig couldn't understand her clearly.

As help arrived downstairs for Thakkar, the girl was reluctant to leave, telling Ludwig she'd been trying to help the man. She did leave within a few minutes, however.

As Thakkar was taken away to the hospital and police began talking to all the residents in the building, the pieces of what had happened quickly began falling into place.

Though Ludwig had had no fear of being in the girl's presence, her visit to his apartment and what he'd seen outside the window before that took on a more chilling aspect.

The dread that filled the building that night never really went away until the girl's mother and her young son and daughter moved out in the middle of the night at the beginning of May.

The 15-year-old is facing juvenile charges of attempted murder, armed robbery and aggravated battery, prosecutors say. Her 18-year-old sister, Latifa Johnson, is charged with obstruction of justice. Authorities say she tried to cover up the bloody evidence of her sister's crime.

Johnson's next court date is June 23. The 15-year-old's next court hearing is July 27 when the results of a mental health evaluation are expected.

Relatives moved Thakkar and his wife out of the building. He is recovering at a rented home in Schaumburg and undergoing physical therapy three times a week.

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<h2>Stories</h2>

<ul class="links">

<li><a href="/story/?id=388002">Schaumburg man attacked with hammer released from hospital <span class="date">[06/15/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=383322">Girl held in Schaumburg hammer attack getting mental tests <span class="date">[05/25/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=383190">Family, police eager for hammer victim's recovery <span class="date">[05/25/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=376529">Girl held in hammer attack denied limited release <span class="date">[04/27/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=370594">Family of Schaumburg clubbing victim distraught <span class="date">[04/03/10]</span></a></li>

<li><a href="/story/?id=369904">15-year-old charged with attempted murder in Schaumburg attack <span class="date">[03/31/10]</span></a></li>

</ul>

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