Homeless "Walking Man" brutally beaten with baseball bat midday in downtown Chiraq

Downtown Chicago

A homeless Chicagoan known as "The Walking Man" who looks a bit like another Chicago native, actor Bruce Dern, made the nearly fatal mistake of saying "Hi" to a man midday yesterday in downtown Chiraq.

From the Chicago Tribune:

His name is Joseph Kromelis. He's a street peddler who prefers to keep to himself and walk the city, every day and in every kind of weather. "It's just a way of life for him," said his sister-in-law, Linda Kromelis, from Michigan.

That's what Joseph Kromelis was doing around 11 a.m. Tuesday when he was attacked. He told police he was on Lower Wacker and said "Hi" to someone he passed. That man began punching and hitting him with a bat, Chicago police said.

A Central District sergeant responding to a battery call saw the attacker straddled over Kromelis, struggling with the bat, according to a police report. A witness told the sergeant the suspect also tried to throw Kromelis over a railing to the pavement about 20 feet below.