A Weinberg senior was mugged by three men in Chicago’s Buena Park neighborhood Saturday night, according to his account and police reports. Two men were caught in the incident and a third got away.

Daniel Crowder – who has bruises around both eyes, cuts on his scalp and a cut above his right eye – said he didn’t realize what happened until a witness came to see if he was OK.

“It happened so quickly, the guy had to explain to me that I was mugged,” said Crowder, a former Daily staffer.

Justus Lankin, 18, of Chicago, and Steeve Michel, 20, of Chicago, were charged with robbery in the incident, a police spokesman said.

At about 11:30 p.m., Crowder was walking to a friend’s birthday party when he was grabbed from behind on the 1100 block of West Irving Park Road.

Attackers took his iPod Nano and cell phone, police said. The phone was recovered, but the iPod was not.

Crowder said he thought his iPod attracted the attackers. The earbuds of his headphone, a recent birthday gift, had Swarovski crystal on them.

After witnesses called police, Crowder was taken to Weiss Medical Center for treatment, he said. He was then interviewed by the Chicago Police Department and returned home to Evanston at about 5 a.m.

He will have further treatment, to have his stitches removed and undergo CT scans, he said.

“I’m really glad I didn’t know what was happening,” Crowder said. “If I had known what was going on I would have been more defensive, and they would have probably been more violent.

“I’m happy with the way I did react – I guess it was the best of a bad situation. I’m really glad I don’t remember anything about it.”

– Staff Reports