Uppity CTA Employee Thinks She's At Her Nail Salon, Walks Through Crime Scene, Gets Escorted Off, Later Lies About It, GETS ARRESTED

A video captured a Chicago police officer arresting CTA supervisor Martesa Lee after she refused to drop her complaint in an incident in February at the Jackson stop on the Red Line.

The video was posted with a story in the Chicago Tribune on June 15, 2020.

When she arrived on the scene, Lee saw Michael Malinowski, a street musician known as “Machete Mike” standing on the track shirtless and bleeding. The report said Lee sought help for Malinowski and began to assess the situation to determine whether the train should bypass the station or continue normal operations.

As Lee was doing her job, Chicago police arrived on the scene. As part of her duties, Lee in the past reportedly worked with officers as a supervisor overseeing stops in the Loop. As she continued doing her job, the officers began their duties on the scene, according to the Tribune report.

After charging a 38-year-old, mentally ill woman with slashing Malinowski’s arm, Officer Raymond Haran reportedly spotted Lee walking through the crime scene. More than a dozen people had walked through the crime scene because the area was not cordoned off due to a shortage of the standard yellow tape, according to the Tribune report.

Haran called out to Lee as she spoke to the CTA control center over her radio. He asked her to get out of the crime scene. The report said Lee held up her hand to show she was on the radio and kept walking on the platform. Haran reportedly followed her, “grabbed her by the elbow and physically steered her out of the unmarked area.”

That’s when Lee repeatedly told Haran not to touch her and that she was doing her job.

Seven minutes after the incident, Lee walked over to complain to Haran’s supervisor, Sgt. William Spyker, who called Haran over to discuss the situation. Haran reportedly denied pushing Lee but admitted that he touched her harm as he pulled Lee away from the crime scene. Spyker then reportedly gave Lee a choice to drop her complaint or face an arrest for obstructing a crime scene.

When Lee said she would not let the matter go, Spyker allowed Haran to arrest Lee in front of her employees. The video captured Lee as she was being handcuffed.

Lee was eventually released after police decided not to press charges. The Tribune reported that in the official incident report, Lee was accused of obstruction of justice and potentially contaminating the crime scene. But the newspaper also reported that the incident report does not mention Lee’s request to file a complaint against Hagan. Police officers are required to file “a complete and comprehensive” investigation after receiving a complaint and report the grievance to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability within an hour. According to the Tribune, a police spokeswoman declined to say whether this had been done.