A CBS News Chicago reporter and photographer were attacked near the Adler Planetarium on Monday afternoon, and three men were later arrested after police linked the same white tow truck to a second confrontation about 20 minutes later. The crew got away unharmed, but their camera and news truck were damaged in a fast-moving incident that unfolded just before 4:30 p.m. on the 900 block of East Solidarity Drive.
The attack happened as the crew was preparing to go on the air for the 4 p.m. newscast. Three men in the tow truck pulled up directly in front of the news van. One man got out first with a dog, moved aggressively toward the journalists and shouted racial slurs at one of them. He ordered the dog to attack, but it did not. One of the crew members defended himself, then the other two men jumped out. One smashed the photographer’s camera. Another struck the windshield of the truck with a traffic cone.
The episode matters because it was not just a dispute on a sidewalk. It was an assault on working journalists in a public place, and it escalated quickly enough to leave the crew protecting equipment while trying to keep the shot alive. A CBS spokesperson said the company was “shocked and horrified” and grateful the journalists were safe. For the crew, the damage was immediate. For the city, the more serious question is why the men singled them out at all.
That question is not answered by the later police stop. CPD said it received reports about the same tow truck near 42nd and Western in Brighton Park, where occupants were said to be pointing a gun at people on the sidewalk. When officers caught up with the truck, the driver sped off. After the vehicle crashed into a squad car, all three occupants jumped out and a gun was recovered. The gun was not pointed at the CBS crew, which leaves the earlier attack looking even more deliberate and the motive still unresolved.
Police said the investigation is ongoing and charges are pending. The men were arrested about 20 minutes after the first confrontation, but the broader case now depends on what investigators can prove about the moment the tow truck stopped in front of the news van and the racial abuse that followed. The crew has already gone back to safety. What remains is whether the arrests will answer the one question the roadside assault raised and the later gun recovery did not.
