LAKE VILLA, Ill. (WGN) Kathleen Miles, an Illinois mother of 11 and grandmother to seven, serves as the cornerstone of her family. However, she is now in recovery after an assault in Chicago’s Loop, perpetrated by a man with a history of similar offenses against several women.
“This has rocked our whole family cause the rock needs someone to take care of her,” Miles told affiliate WGN on Tuesday.
Having worked in the Loop for the past 20 years, Miles was on her way to the train with a coworker along West Washington Avenue when she was suddenly attacked by a stranger.
The assailant stood by as she bled on the ground until a passerby, revealed to be state senator Willie Preston, intervened, removing his shirt to help staunch the bleeding.
Miles suffered a number of injuries, including a broken nose and multiple facial fractures.
The suspect, 32-year-old William Livingston, is already known to authorities from past attacks.
“I felt a hand in my pocket, turned my head like that, and there was a man directly in front of me, and he punched me directly in the face,” Cami Blechschmidt recounted to WGN in 2022. “We made eye contact, and he displayed nothing but pure hate in his eyes. Just anger, pure anger.”
Almost four years earlier, Blechschmidt, a DePaul University student, described how Livingston unexpectedly attacked her and three other women within just 22 minutes.
According to records from the Chicago Police Department, Livingston has faced seven arrests over the past decade for similar violent acts, leaving those like Miles and her family questioning how many more women could fall victim if authorities fail to take action.
“I think every system has failed him, whether it’s mental health or the justice system, I feel he’s been failed,” Miles said. “And as a result, we’ve all been failed.”
