A 52-year-old man brutally beat a man he suspected of having an affair with his fiancee, leaving the victim in a medically induced coma with brain injuries, prosecutors said Sunday.
Reckie Clay, of the 11000 block of Homewood Avenue, appeared in Cook County Bond Court on Sunday, charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery in the attack outside a Far South Side bar.
On Aug. 4, Clay waited in a car outside the bar in the 9700 block of South Halsted Street in the Longwood Manor neighborhood, Assistant State’s Attorney Craig Taczy said. As a 47-year-old man left the building about 6:30 p.m., Clay approached him about suspected infidelity with Clay’s fiancee.
Clay punched the man in the face, knocking him unconscious, Taczy said.
“The defendant then kicked the victim several times, including in the head and the throat,” Taczy said. Clay “confronted witnesses in the alley and the witnesses left the alley. The defendant then went back to the victim, who was (lying) motionless on the ground, and slammed his head two times on the ground.”
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The victim was placed in a medically induced coma with a traumatic brain injury. Doctors said the attack left the victim in a “partial vegetative state operating in a low capacity,” Taczy said. He suffered brain hemorrhaging in three places, missing teeth — including one lodged in his throat — and damage to his vocal chords.
He was able to identify Clay in a photo array, however.
On Friday, Clay, who works as a mechanic at Valvoline in Morgan Park, was arrested at his job, according to court documents.
In 1989, Clay, a self-admitted Gangster Disciple, pleaded guilty to a slew of felonies, including attempted murder, home invasion, aggravated battery and residential burglary, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Judge Laura Sullivan sent Clay, who was still wearing his work uniform inscribed with his initials, to Cook County Jail.
“I find the defendant presents a real and present threat to the physical safety to any person or persons, in addition to significant criminal history offered by the state,” Sullivan said. “I find it necessary to hold him without bail. There is no condition of bond that could prevent (this threat).”
A woman who identified herself as Clay’s fiancee left the courtroom Sunday after the hearing, apparently emotional after hearing the charges against him.
“I don’t know what to think,” she said. “I don’t really know enough of the story.”
Clay is scheduled to return to court Friday.