A Chicago man admitted Friday to beating a man unconscious in 2021 — who stopped to help the woman he was attacking.
Diamontae L. Kellum, 26, pleaded guilty to battery resulting in serious bodily injury, a Level 5 felony and misdemeanor domestic battery.
If Lake Superior Judge Gina Jones accepts the deal, it calls for a 1-year prison sentence.
His trial set for this week on the attempted murder charge was canceled. His sentencing hearing is now scheduled for May 17.
Police were called out for a fight, arriving around 7:44 p.m. Feb. 16, 2021 on the 5800 block of Columbia Avenue in Hammond to find a man unconscious in the street.
The male victim had a “large laceration” on his head and was unconscious, but still breathing, charges allege. Hospital staff later said he had brain bleeding and couldn’t remember what happened.
Kellum’s girlfriend told police the man approached her while she was crying on the front porch after Kellum choked her, the affidavit states.
“What’s going on?” witnesses said he told her.
Kellum came outside and a fight broke out. The affidavit states Kellum stomped on the man’s face and body with his boots. He then threw the man’s own bike at him as the man was on the ground, causing a large gash on the left side of his head, charges show.
The man was transported to a Chicago trauma center for his injuries.
The woman told police she and Kellum had been together for about two years and Kellum had attacked her in the past, she told police. He followed her upstairs to a bedroom as she went to gather her things. He tried to take away her keys, choking her, throwing her against the wall, causing the curtains to come down, then threw her on the floor, the affidavit states.
“She thought she was going to be thrown out the window,” charges state.
The woman ran out of the house and was on the porch when the good Samaritan then came up to her and asked what was going on. She told him to call the police. Kellum came outside and started to fight the man, the affidavit alleges.
When police arrived and interviewed the woman, they realized Kellum was still inside the house. He surrendered and was arrested, charges state.
The man was “just trying to help me and save me,” the woman said, according to witnesses.
