Inset: Denzel Rosson, 24, was charged with battery and attempted robbery. View Full Caption Flickr/Russell Sekeet / Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — When a Bridgeport woman riding the "L" refused to give a man her phone number Monday, he followed her to another train car before putting her in a headlock and trying to steal her phone, prosecutors and witnesses said.

The incident unfolded shortly before 9 p.m. Monday when Denzel Rosson, 24, asked a 21-year-old woman to give him her number, according to Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto.

The woman refused, Scaduto said, but Rosson wouldn't leave her alone. The woman moved to another train car and Rosson followed.

The woman exited the train at Roosevelt, where Rosson followed her to the sidewalk in the 1100 block of South Wabash Avenue, Scaduto said. As the woman tried to call 911, Rosson allegedly made his move.

According to witnesses and police, Rosson got the woman in a headlock, punched her in the face and tried to steal her phone and purse before he ran away.

A witness who asked not to be named said he saw the attack unfold while sitting in his auto at a stoplight at Roosevelt and Wabash. He drove after Rosson, who ducked into a nearby restaurant on State Street. Several other bystanders were chasing Rosson on foot, the witness said.

Police arrested Rosson in the restaurant a few minutes later, court records show, and both the victim and several witnesses positively identified him as the attacker.

Rosson, who lives in the 2300 block of Spruce Road in south suburban Homewood, was charged with battery and attempted robbery.

On Tuesday, Cook County Circuit Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil ordered Rosson held in lieu of $200,000 bail.

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