Second suspect charged with pushing man to his death from CTA Red Line train ordered held
A woman accused of pushing a Lansing, Illinois, man off a Chicago Transit Authority Red Line train and killing him on Labor Day was ordered by a judge to be detained.
Katlar Parchman, 19, appeared shocked to be in the defendant's chair on Saturday.
The defense says she is a nursing assistant, goes to church, does community service, but was not the person who caused 29-year-old Kyle Bickham's death on Labor Day.
Prosecutors say a group of four, including Parchman, a 15-year-old girl, and two men, boarded a Red Line train heading north last Monday at 95th Street. So did Bickham — a person none of them knew.
According to prosecutors, Bickham was seen on train surveillance video walking around the car, going up to passengers' bags and got into an argument with the juvenile charged. They say at one point Bickham spat on the girl and Parchman, who punched, slapped and grabbed him.
They say the group of defendants gathered around Bickham. That's when one of the men in the group and the juvenile charged pulled the emergency lever, opened the sliding doors and pushed him off the train.
Bickham's family questioned during a press conference how that was possible.
"Also, I would like to know what is going on with the CTA. How it was so easy to have that door open in the middle of a ride and my son be thrown off the train," said Natalia Bickham, mother.
The defense says Bickham was touching passengers' purses, appeared intoxicated and smelled of alcohol. They also argue that even though Parchman was with the group who pushed Bickham off the train, she was not the one who initiated it. However, prosecutors say she acted with them.
They also add that Parchman has no criminal background and has never been arrested.
The two other men in this group have not been arrested or charged as of Saturday.
Parchman's next hearing is Tuesday. That's when the judge says she will reevaluate whether she needs to stay detained.
