Bail set at $150K for man accused of fighting with police, paramedics

Dec. 05--A 28-year-old Hobart, Ind. man has been charged after a disturbance that left himself, two paramedics, and a police officer hospitalized after he fought with them outside a River North club Wednesday night.

A judge set bail at $150,000 Wednesday for Joseph Zajac, of the 3800 block of Colbourne Street in Hobart, who was charged with three felony counts of aggravated battery to a police officer or protected employee and misdemeanor resisting a police officer, according to police.

The incident began about 7:15 p.m. Wednesday at Kinzie Street and LaSalle Boulevard as paramedics and police responded to a multiple 911 calls about a sick person, according to officials.

Responding officers spoke to a doorman who was nearby working when he saw Zajac who appeared highly intoxicated. He was stumbling in the street, falling down, and hitting his head on the ground, according to a police report.

The doorman saw a passerby who told police he was a doctor, who helped steady Zajac and kept him from falling down again. The doorman told Zajac and several of his companions that he should calm down and sit, but Zajac began punching, kicking, head butting, and trying to bite the emergency responders who had gotten to the scene, the report said.

The doorman was "visibly shaken'' and said of Zajac's actions: "He was attacking them and they were only trying to help,'' the report said.

Someone on the scene overheard Zajac on a phone saying he'd been kicked out of a nearby tavern and he was "lost in Chicago and I'm on 'shrooms,'' the report said.

A police News Affairs statement on the incident said the "highly combative" Zajac was hitting a paramedic in the face and punching and kicking a police officer. He caused a second paramedic to fall and hit her head on a railing, causing unconsciousness, the statement said.

The male and female paramedic along with a male police officer were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said Chicago Fire Department Spokesman Juan Hernandez. The man who allegedly attacked the three was also hospitalized there, said Hernandez. None of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening, Hernandez said.

Zajac was arrested and treated for minor injuries before being released to police, according to the statement, which said all the victims have been released from Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

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