The new charges for a man facing federal charges after allegedly lighting a woman on fire on the CTA Blue Line has exposed a range of gaps in the criminal justice system, experts say.

Prosecutors say in March, 50-year-old Lawrence Reed tried to sexually assault a 23-year-old woman who was riding the Blue Line, just like Bethany McGee.

According to the charging documents for the March incident, when the train was near the Grand Avenue station, Reed touched the woman and sat on her lap before a 27-year-old man intervened and Reed struck him.

Chicago police said they responded and sent Reed to Rush University Medical Center for a mental health evaluation.

"The physicians and the clinicians are doing a legal assessment to see if how, if and when should the hold that person any further or could they get them access to care privately," said Matt Davison, CEO of the National Alliance on Mental Illness Chicago.

The Cook County State's Attorney's Office said they were not made aware of the March incident until after police said Reed set McGee on fire in November.

Davison said while there aren't easy answers in this case, there may be easy questions.

"Where are the inflection points of care? Where are the interventions upstream?" he said.

"Once a person is admitted into the hospital, into a mental health facility, mental health treatment at the hospital, the officers are done. They leave and go about their business," said former CPD deputy superintendent Anthony Riccio.

Riccio said Reed's criminal history would have been reviewed by officers.

Prior to the March attack, CBS News Chicago found Reed had been arrested more than 70 times, and in August he would go on to attack a social worker at a psychiatric hospital. But Riccio said that history would not have immediately triggered a request for charges.

"I hate to say he's not unique. There's a lot of people walking the streets right now who have that number of arrests," he said.

Riccio believes the case should have been referred for charges when it happened.

"Somewhere in this process, the ball was dropped, and as a result of that, we saw what happened to the young woman back in November, when she was started on fire on the train," Riccio said.

Davison agrees the ball was dropped, but views the issue as access to services.

"So we can get people access to housing, access to treatment, medications if they want to engage in treatment that way. events like this are better used when we look back holistically where those gaps are because they are there," he said.

The Cook County States Attorney did ask for detention after Reed's August arrest for attacking a social worker. But they didn't know about the March attack. Neither did the judge who then released Reed on electronic monitoring.

The big question remains why police didn't originally request charges in March. CBS News Chicago has reached out to the Chicago Police Department, but have not gotten an answer. All they have said is the March victims were told criminal charges could be pursued at a later time. 

If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis or needs mental health assistance, you can call the NAMI helpline at 33-NAMI-CHI (626-4244).

Full statement from Chicago Police

Officers responded immediately to the aggravated battery that occurred on March 27, 2025. After responding to and securing the scene, officers interviewed the offender, who was transported to Rush Hospital for a mental health evaluation. This incident was documented through a Crisis Intervention Report. 

The 22-year-old female victim and 26-year-old male victim in this incident were notified that criminal charges could be pursued at a later time due to the offender's mental health status. Within days of this incident, detectives made contact with one of the victims for additional information to move the investigation forward. Detectives continued to reach out to both victims during the course of the investigation. As detectives actively worked this case with the goal of apprehending the offender, the offender committed the aggravated arson on November 17, 2025 and was taken into custody the next day for that aggravated arson.

This investigation into the March 27, 2025 incident remained active and ongoing until charges were secured on November 28, 2025.