Kevin Powell, 54, was found unresponsive March 25, 2023, on a stairwell landing inside the LaSalle station on the CTA Blue Line in Chicago. Powell, who was homeless, had fallen asleep on the platform next to a wheelchair holding his belongings and was later pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Surveillance video shows 40-year-old CTA customer service employee Emmet Richardson brutally attacking Powell — kicking the wheelchair, dragging him by his hood, and repeatedly beating him over about an hour while Powell did not fight back. The Cook County autopsy cited a combination of a drug overdose and the stress of the attack as Powell’s cause of death; Richardson was indicted on first-degree murder and aggravated battery charges.

Powell’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit seeking more than $50,000 against the CTA and Richardson, alleging the agency knew of prior complaints about Richardson’s treatment of customers yet kept him employed. Anyone with information about Kevin, the incident at LaSalle station, or prior complaints about the employee is asked to come forward.