A woman with a lengthy history of attacking people on the CTA has been sentenced to three years in prison for a series of attacks downtown last December, which she carried out less than 24 hours after being released from jail for attacking other transit riders.
Two of her latest victims were on the Red Line. According to authorities, two additional grandparents were taking their grandson to a Christmas lunch at Macy’s Walnut Room when they were attacked on an escalator in the store.
On Wednesday, Jada Beatty, 27, pled guilty to aggravated battery of a victim over the age of 60 and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon before Judge Ursula Walowski, who issued three-year terms for both counts. The sentences will run consecutively, giving Beatty a three-year prison term. State legislation will shorten her sentence to 18 months, with an additional reduction for the 310 days she served in county jail.
On December 16, at 10:10 a.m., a 19-year-old lady from Orlando was on a northbound Red Line train that came to a halt at the State/Lake station. Prosecutors said Beatty boarded, stopped in front of the woman, and repeatedly beat her in the head with a wine bottle before exiting and boarding a southbound train.
Beatty then proceeded through the southbound train and used a glass bottle to strike a 32-year-old lady in the forehead, resulting in a huge, bleeding laceration, according to prosecutors. She then fled, according to the accusations.
Around 30 minutes after the train attacks, a 63-year-old Elmhurst woman, her 66-year-old husband, and their grandchild came to Macy’s for a lunchtime reservation in the Walnut Room. Beatty squeezed herself between the couple as the family took the escalator to the sixth floor, according to prosecutors. She smacked the spouse twice in the head with a wine bottle, then grabbed and tossed his glasses. When his wife attempted to interfere, Beatty hit her in the face, according to authorities.
Minutes later, Chicago police officers discovered Beatty on the Wabash Avenue side of the Macy’s skyscraper. While being driven to the police station, Beatty told an officer, “I did hit that b****,” according to prosecutors.
Beatty’s record of attacks on public transportation dates back several years.
In August 2022, she was charged with aggravated battery of a transit employee after hurling a full plastic Sprite bottle that struck a CTA bus driver in the jaw near the 3400 block of South Martin Luther King Drive. The following year, she pled guilty to a reduced misdemeanor violence charge and was placed under 12 months of social service supervision by Judge Michael McHale.
This oversight did not prevent another attack. On May 1, 2024, Beatty assaulted a 20-year-old woman in the face on a platform at Roosevelt Station, knocking her to the ground. Beatty was arrested on the spot and charged with aggravated battery on a transit passenger and aggravated battery in a public place.
The following day, she pled guilty and received a two-year sentence from McHale. She was released the same day after receiving 366 days credit for time spent on electronic monitoring and the state’s customary sentence reduction. Less than 24 hours later, police say Beatty carried out the four attacks in the Loop that resulted in this week’s guilty pleas.
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