This comes as questions remain about plans to deploy officers on trains and buses.
Tanahri Favela told the I-Team her harrowing story of survival. She says was applying her makeup on her way to work in early April on the Blue Line when she was approached by a group of men. They started to argue, one spat on her, and a fight ensued. Favela recorded a video.
"They jumped on me to get my phone, which ended up getting my hair pulled out. I ended up having bruised eyes, a bruised nose. I have bruises on my arm, bruises on the back of my legs from being slammed around," Favela said. "Punching me, battering me. They were just literally just like a ragdoll around that train."
Favela fought back, saying she frantically pressed the call button asking for help, but no one came. She says the men who attacked her escaped at the next stop. She called police and filed a report.
"I just got robbed and assaulted and you left me on my own to fend for myself. I had to call 911. I had to rescue myself. I had to get my own witness. I had to do everything. And that saddens me because I should feel safe and I don't," Favela said.
The CTA has been under intense pressure to improve transit safety since last year. The feds threatened to pull millions of dollars if changes were not made.
CTA submitted a plan to add sworn law enforcement at stations and on trains using overtime as the Cook County Sheriff's Office assesses a more comprehensive safety solution, including the targeting of fair evaders.
"We have found there's a direct correlation between people who evade pain and other problems that occur on the line," said Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart. "We got about 20 different weapons off of just our work on the Red Line."
Dart told the I-Team his deputies have been working for months, analyzing strategies that work to be presented to a new transit board in the coming months.
"Doing this in some form or fashion with overtime is not a plan. That's not a plan," Dart said. "This has to be a well-organized, defined police force that is driven by data. Where is the crime? What trains do we need to be on all the time?"
CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen said this week, year over year for the month of May, crime on the Red Line is down 77%. Leerhsen touted other double-digit reductions in crime over the past several months.
"Crime continues to drop across the CTA. In fact, CTA on crime is down for the fifth straight month in a row," Leerhsen said. "We are not going to let up on this front."
Favela is hearing about the progress but not seeing it herself. When the I-Team traveled with her on her way to work, there were no officers on her Blue Line train.
"How many isolated incidents are there going to be until it's no longer isolated, because it's starting to look like an endemic. It's pandemic now. It's starting to spread," Favela said.
Favela filed a police report with Oak Park. Police can only say the investigation is ongoing on Monday night.
The ABC7 Data Team found that while crime has gone down on the CTA, compared to the last three years, declines are more modest, with overall crime down just 6.1%.