Chicago “gang member” arrested after bizarre IC bus incident
Hunter
5/22/19
A man who has a history of run-ins with the law was arrested in the overnight hours of Wednesday after an incident on a bus.
An Iowa City police officer was dispatched to the bus station on Court Street for reports of a drunk and belligerent male causing issues with the bus driver and fellow passengers. The man, pointed out by the driver and identified as 24-year-old Loren Austen-Chewing of North Sheridan Road in Chicago, smelled strongly of ingested alcohol.
Austen-Chewing, who is black, allegedly kept yelling at the bus driver as the officer was trying to interact with him, and repeatedly referred to himself as a white police officer who had been given alcohol by someone on the bus.
What followed caused more charges to be added to the incident.
A search of the suspect turned up a plastic jar containing to be marijuana and a pipe with what they believed to be marijuana residue inside.
Austen-Chewing refused to follow instructions on field testing and the post arrest PBT. He also allegedly pulled away from police numerous times and refused to let officers shut the door to the squad car. Austen-Chewing would be pushed to the end of the seat and be told to sit still, and as officers moved to close the door, he would try to wedge his legs in between the vehicle and the door.
While being transported to jail, Austen-Chewing then allegedly screamed that he was a member of a gang back in Chicago and that the officer was “effing dead,” saying he was going to contact people back home to have the officer killed.
Authorities noted that Austen-Chewing has a history of convictions on possession and delivery of marijuana, and numerous assaults and assaults on police officers.
Austen-Chewing has been charged with First Degree Harassment, Possession of a Controlled Substance 3rd or Subsequent, Interference with Official Acts, Public Intoxication, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia. If convicted he could be sentenced to up to over four years in prison.
