River North restaurant sued by woman sexually assaulted in alley

After taking in a show at the Chicago Theatre last month, a woman in town for a visit went to a River North restaurant and bar with a friend.

She was at El Hefe on Hubbard Street for only an hour, but she may have been drugged, her attorneys say. Before long, she was escorted out the back door and into the alley, where she was sexually assaulted by a man who had bought her drinks.

Now, the woman has filed a lawsuit against El Hefe, alleging the restaurant staff’s negligence led to a night from hell.

“El Hefe, by and through its agents/employees forced the plaintiff to leave its premises through the back exit into a dangerous alley while in a deteriorated condition with her assailant who they believed had drugged her and was making unwelcome sexual advances,” the lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court alleges.

Attorneys for the woman, identified only as “Jane Doe,” shared security footage from the alley at a news conference Monday.

The attack happened in the east/west alley of the first block of West Hubbard Street in the late hours of Oct. 18. Records show the Chicago Police Department is investigating a reported criminal sexual assault from the same time and place.

A representative for El Hefe’s parent company did not respond to a request for comment Monday.

The video, obtained from a business that shares the alley with El Hefe, shows the woman being escorted out to the alley by a man wearing red shoes. The woman, in her early 20s, can be seen leaning on him for support. Behind them are two employees of El Hefe who walked out at the same time.

The woman and the man in the red shoes can be seen walking a few dozen feet east from El Hefe’s back door. Eventually, the woman is pushed into some dumpsters. The two El Hefe employees remain in the alley and talk while smoking a cigarette. They take no action to defend her during the attack happening “less than 100 feet away,” according to the woman’s lawyers.

Eventually, someone called 911 and the woman — who was found “unresponsive” — was taken by ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Brian Monico, one of the woman’s attorneys, said it was highly unusual that a customer would be escorted out of an establishment through the back door and into the alley.

“It appears that the individual who escorted her out of the bar may have had some relationship with the bar or staff in the bar,” he said.

Upon arrival at Northwestern, the woman was no longer wearing the underwear she had on when she arrived at El Hefe, according to her attorneys. Tests performed at the hospital found the woman endured “various vaginal injuries,” Monico said.

She has no memory of the attack. Monico said while she is recovering, “she is not well.”

“This is something that is deeply traumatizing to her, and she is going to be in a bad way for a long time,” he said.

The identity of the man in the red shoes remained unknown as of Monday, according to the woman’s attorneys. No arrests have been made in the case, police records show. The woman’s attorneys asked anyone who may know the man to call Chicago police.