News

Homeless man victim to State Street battery

Late night argument leads to fight; gang potentially involved

Two men were tentatively charged with battery last week after allegedly attacking a homeless man who was verbally insulting them.

At approximately 10:15 p.m. on March 16, the Madison Police Department responded to a call regarding an incident at the intersection of State and Gorham Streets.

The victim, 39, mouthed off to the two suspects in the middle of State Street, according to Joel DeSpain, spokesperson for the MPD. The suspects, Jimmy Sanchez, 29, of Belleville, and Benito Juarez Olivas, 34, of Madison, then pursued the victim.

Sanchez and Olivas then chased the victim and allegedly tackled and stomped on him and threw a punch to his face, DeSpain said.

The victim sustained an abrasion to his forehead and his right knee.

Sanchez was given a parole hold.

There was evidentially some talk about gang affiliation, DeSpain said, but the MPD still does not know if the two suspects were members of a gang. He added the suspects used expletives that further irritated the victim.

The victim made mention about a particular neighborhood and the two suspects made mention of a gang located outside of the state, Sgt. Amy Schwartz said. She added the gang that was spoken about has no conjunction with the neighborhood the victim mentioned.

According to Schwartz, this is not a common incident for downtown.

“Madison has gang members come to the downtown for entertainment purposes, but for a gang to be centered in the downtown area, I wouldn’t say that,” Schwartz said.

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said the incident is more of “the garden variety of night time fights” that occur in the State Street area.

He said he is content the suspects were arrested immediately, adding he thinks a majority of downtown crimes are not committed by downtown residents.

“That’s just another indication of how the downtown really is a magnet for people all over the region to come down here,” Verveer said. “I assume the two suspects were downtown partying and got themselves into some serious trouble.”