Woman beaten in forest preserve near Westchester

• Reprints

Updated: February 20, 2012 9:04AM

Two Broadview teens were arrested at 3:33 p.m. Jan. 7 after allegedly beating a 30-year-old River Forest woman skateboarding along the Salt Creek Greenway Trail in Westchester.

Chavae Gibson, 18, of 2800 S. 12th Ave., was charged initially with aggravated robbery and is being held in the Cook County Jail in lieu of $10,000 bond. The charge was later reduced to attempted robbery, said Karen Vaughan, director of communications for the Cook County Forest Preserve District Police.

A 17-year-old boy also was taken into custody, but Vaughan said the department wouldn’t disclose whether he was charged in the attempted theft of the woman’s skateboard, which was unsuccessful.

Westchester police responded to a battery reported in a Cook County Forest Preserve, where a woman said she was jumped on the trail by two men, who struck her in the head and chest. She was transported for treatment to Loyola Medical Center, police said.

The men fled through the woods and headed west toward Belleview Avenue and Windsor Drive, where witnesses spotted them and alerted police. Westchester police arrested the teens as they were cutting through yards on the 2200 block of Hawthorne Avenue and turned the two over to the forest preserve police.

“It’s an isolated incident,” Vaughan said.

Forest Preserve District Police Chief Richard Waszak can’t recall an incident of this nature in nine years at the Salt Creek Greenway Trail, Vaughan said.

“It’s very safe. There are call boxes throughout the forest preserves, so if you need to, you can reach the police immediately,” Vaughan said.

Vaughan advises joggers or bikers to use common sense and be aware of their surroundings when using the forest preserves. It’s also helpful to carry a cell phone and travel with someone else who could provide assistance in a health emergency or other situation, she said.