Emanuel Addresses Son's Robbery: “He's Doing Fine”

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's teenaged son is "doing fine" after he was mugged last month, the mayor said Monday — though he said he can't say the same for himself and his wife.

The mayor first thanked everyone who had expressed concerns about his 17-year-old son Zach’s well-being since he was punched in the face and robbed near the family’s Ravenswood home.

“Zach is doing fine. I can’t say the same for his parents, but Zach is doing fine, and that says something about the resilience of teenagers,” he said, adding, “and that is meant to be both tongue-in-cheek as well as serious.”

Police say Zach Emanuel was walking on the 4200 block of North Hermitage talking on his cell phone around 10 p.m. when a man put his arm around the teen’s neck, putting him in a “rear chokehold.”

A second man then punched the teen in the face, knocking him to the ground and forcing him to drop his phone.

The pair took the phone and patted the teen down, asking, “What else you got?” according to the police report. They then told him to enter his security code in the cell phone and fled southbound on Hermitage.

Rahm Emanuel also addressed reporters' questions about the robbery Monday, including one about whether the person with whom Zach was on the phone at the time had heard anything.

“He was on the phone with his college counselor. They obviously heard stuff, and they’ll do the proper work with the police department to do what they need to do,” the mayor said.
 

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