After five people robbed a woman on a Red Line train in September 2024, Chicago police released CTA surveillance images of the suspects and asked the public for help identifying them. In one photo, one of the robbers looked directly into the camera and defiantly extended his middle finger toward the lens. Now, the bird-flipping robber is flying away to prison with a 16-year sentence.
David Mitchell, 19, was on juvenile parole for carjacking and had been adjudicated delinquent multiple times when he joined four other people, including two juveniles, in robbing a 19-year-old woman aboard a Red Line train near the 69th Street station on the evening of September 28, 2024, prosecutors said.
According to police, one of the juveniles pointed a firearm at the woman while Mitchell and the others demanded her belongings, taking her phone, wallet, and backpack. Cops quickly identified and arrested everyone involved except Mitchell. To find him, investigators released CTA surveillance images to the media and asked the public for help. One of those photos showed Mitchell biting his lower lip while staring into the CTA camera and extending his left middle finger toward the lens…