Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - April 14, 2005
Jennifer Lebovich, Tribune staff reporter
Michael L. Jackson, 37, was charged with aggravated assault and reckless conduct for trying to hit a nurse and spitting bloody saliva at her while being treated at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, police said Wednesday.
Jackson is HIV positive, according to a criminal complaint lodged by Downers Grove police. The DuPage County state's attorney's office charged him with aggravated assault for "knowing that he, the defendant, is HIV positive, thereby placing [the] nurse in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery," according to a court document.
Jackson tried to commit suicide Sunday by swallowing depressants and sleeping pills and was taken to the emergency room at about 1 a.m., police said. Jackson was unresponsive when he was taken to the hospital. When he woke up in the emergency room, he repeatedly demanded to leave.
When a nurse told Jackson that he needed to stay, he allegedly swung at her twice and said: "And here's some HIV for you, you [expletive]!" before spitting bloody saliva in her direction, the Downers Grove police report said.
The nurse knew Jackson was HIV positive, and she "turned and moved away from Mr. Jackson" when he spit at her, the report said. Jackson's mouth was bloody because a tube had been inserted down his throat.
Du Page Judge Eugene Wojcik set Jackson's bond at $250,000, Downers Grove police spokesman Lee Hahn said Wednesday.
Jackson, a former Chicago health worker, had been out on bond on charges of first degree murder and aggravated vehicular hijacking in the February death of taxi driver Haroon Paryani. A Cook County judge denied Jackson's bail twice, before releasing him April 7 on $750,000 bail.
Shortly after the incident, Jackson was fired from his job as a policy and communications specialist in the Public Health Department's sexually transmitted disease/HIV/AIDS division.
Jackson, a longtime activist in the gay community, helped found the Hearts Foundation, a non-profit organization that helps social service groups for Chicago's gay and lesbian community.
In papers filed Tuesday, Cook County prosecutors issued a warrant for Jackson for violating conditions of his bond on the murder charge. They could move to revoke or increase his bond.
Jackson is expected to appear in Cook County court when he is released from the hospital, prosecutors said.
Jackson will likely have a "lengthy stay" at the hospital, Hahn said.
On Feb. 4, Jackson allegedly argued with Paryani about a fare and then took control of Paryani's cab and ran him over three times before driving away. The incident took place in the 500 block of West Briar Place on the city's North Side, in front of where Jackson lived at the time of the incident.
Jackson now lives in the 2700 block of South Highland Avenue in Lombard, according to the Downers Grove police report about the incident at the hospital.
A man who answered the phone Wednesday at that address declined to comment.
At last week's bond hearing in Cook County, defense attorney Thomas Breen said Jackson only intended to use the cab to get away from the spot where he and Paryani were arguing.
At the same hearing, Assistant State's Atty. Mercedes Luque-Rosales said that Paryani was already on the ground when Jackson took his cab.
"If he wants to flee, go home, Mr. Jackson," Luque-Rosales said. "Instead, he gets into the cab, guns the engine and strikes Mr. Paryani. He then backs over him. But that's not enough. He goes forward and strikes Mr. Paryani again, dragging his body."
Breen did not return phone calls for comment Wednesday.
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