Man charged with attempted murder after allegedly attacking Chicago police detective in South Shore

Bail was denied Sunday for a 23-year-old man accused of kicking and stabbing an on-duty Chicago police detective during an apparent armed robbery in the South Shore neighborhood earlier this year.

Kenyon Washington has been charged with attempted murder and armed robbery for his alleged involvement in the Feb. 8 attack in the 7700 block of South Yates Boulevard, according to Chicago police and Cook County prosecutors.

Shortly after 7 p.m. that evening, Washington and an accomplice came up from behind and attacked an Area 2 homicide detective who was canvassing the area as part of an investigation into a fatal shooting that happened the day before, prosecutors said.

The on-duty detective, who was in civilian clothing but carrying a binder embossed with the Chicago Police Department star, fell to the ground after he was hit in the back of his head, prosecutors said. That’s when Washington’s accomplice allegedly pointed a semi-automatic handgun with an extended clip at the detective’s head and demanded his belongings.

Washington and the other man began to kick the detective in his head and body as the officer yelled that he didn’t have anything on him, prosecutors said.

As the attack continued, the detective said he was an officer multiple times and “that they did not have to do this,” according to a copy of the bond proffer. The detective also said he didn’t have his wallet.

Washington “made a stabbing motion” toward the detective’s neck, prosecutors said. The detective’s partner heard screams and saw the two men on top of his colleague as he exited a nearby building. The pair of offenders fled the scene on foot as the other detective came to his partner’s aid, prosecutors said.

The injured detective was transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was treated for a cut to the right temple that required stitches and two small cuts to his collarbone and neck. The man also had a bump in the back of his head and bruising to the face and body, prosecutors said.

Investigators found a knife with what appeared to be blood underneath some stairs in the alley of Phillips Avenue. Forensic testing of the knife found that the blood matched the injured detective. Also, DNA found on the knife’s handle was linked to Washington, according to prosecutors.

Washington was arrested Friday and allegedly admitted to committing the armed robbery, though he said he didn’t know the victim was a police officer, according to the proffer. Washington also admitted to being armed with a knife and that he stabbed the detective, prosecutors said.

Washington is expected back in court Friday.