May 11--A 41-year-old homeless man who suffered severe burns Saturday afternoon in a Loop alley is recovering in a hospital Sunday after a good Samaritan got him medical help.
"When I saw him, I knew he was going to need some emergency attention," said Lareese Thomas, 42, who works security in a building nearby. "I couldn't believe it."
About 2:25 p.m. Saturday in the 0-100 block of West Monroe Street, a woman came in from an area parking garage and told Thomas she'd seen the man in an alley.
"When I got outside, I saw him on the ground. He had lost his shoes and had burns on both of his feet," said Thomas, a South Sider.
Thomas said the man's skin was peeling and that he began yelling as he writhed in pain.
He was no longer on fire because another good Samaritan, a construction worker who works in the area, had already put out the flames and removed the victim's burned pants, Thomas said.
Responding officers recognized the victim as a man who for the last 15 years or so has slept in a stairwell near the Bank of America Theatre building at 18 W. Monroe St.
Thomas raced back into the building where he worked and called 911.
The victim, suffering from second- and third-degree burns to his lower legs, was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital but then was transferred to the burn unit at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, police said.
Chicago police acknowledged that the man had been found burned in the alley but would not say whether they thought someone had set the fires that burnt the man. They also would not rule out foul play.
Detectives are investigating.
