Michael Malinowski, known as “Machete Mike” to riders of the Red Line where he regularly plays guitar, had just been stabbed by a woman angry his music was giving her a headache. Now she was tossing his guitar onto the tracks at the Jackson stop.
“I was bleeding out everywhere,” Malinowski said. “I just lit a cigarette, sat on a bench and watched her destroy my s—.”
The woman, Barbara Johnson, was quickly arrested after the Tuesday attack — for at least the 43rd time in her life. Malinowski was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for a cut to his left arm.
Malinowski, 26, said Thursday he is recovering but it will be a while before he is able to play again.
“It’s one thing to get beat up or robbed, but at this point, I feel like I got robbed in the worst way,” he said. “She essentially destroyed my arm and that’s my whole livelihood. That’s the whole reason I even have a career.”
The attack was the second in two days on a CTA train. On Wednesday, a 30-year-old man was shot in the back by a gunman as a Blue Line train pulled into the UIC-Halsted stop. The victim was taken to nearby Stroger Hospital, and a suspect was arrested within hours. Like Johnson, he has an extensive arrest record.
Johnson, 38, of Blue Island, told officers she began attacking Malinowski because the music was giving her a headache, according to police records. She was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery in a public place and criminal damage to property.
Her court-appointed attorney said she suffered from “mental health illnesses” but a judge denied her bail, calling her a “clear and present danger to the community.” Court documents show Johnson has more than 40 arrests on her record, many of them for battery and resisting arrest.
Malinowski said he was performing at the Jackson station, 230 S. State St., around 1:35 pm Tuesday when Johnson approached and unplugged his amplifier. Then she started to push him and pull at his hair and tried to shove him onto the subway tracks. Malinowski said he pushed back at Johnson, trying to create space between them, but she continued pursuing him, prosecutors said.
Malinowski said he swung at Johnson repeatedly to free himself from her grip. When she appeared in court Thursday, she had a black right eye.
Interim Chicago police Superintendent Charlie Beck said Thursday there “may have been some mental illness involved,” and added that it raises some tough questions for police.
“I think this also brings up a really serious issue that faces Chicago and other major cities in the United States, which is the incidence of violence connected to mental health,” he said. “How do we address that and what are the big systems we need to put in place.”
Johnson was charged with aggravated battery to a peace officer in 2005, aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in 2012, aggravated battery to a peace officer in 2014, resisting a peace officer in 2017, and misdemeanor battery in 2017. She was cited for disorderly conduct on the CTA in 2010, records show.
Beck said he planned to meet with officials Friday about deploying more police on CTA lines.
Meawhile, Malinowski’s sister has launched a GoFundMe page to help her brother raise money for new equipment. The page had raised more than $4,700 as of early Friday. He was shocked his sister did that, but said he needs the help.
Malinowski is due to release a second EP, titled “Stations Creation,” sometime soon. Like his first EP, “Tales of The Tunnels,” it will feature music he wrote while working in the subway.
