Prosecutors say a man punched his girlfriend in her throat and put his hand around her neck, causing her to slump over, during an incident at Six Flags Great America in Gurnee.
Jaylon S. Thigpen, 31, of Hammond, Indiana, was charged with one count of domestic battery.
Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Dino Katris said Thigpen and the victim are both from out of state and are in a dating relationship. The two were in Gurnee on July 18.
Security called the Gurnee Police Department reporting a man was chasing a woman in the parking lot of Six Flags Great America.
An off-duty Six Flags employee saw Thigpen chase the victim in the parking lot during an argument with the victim, who refused to get into the car.
Katris said Thigpen approached the woman in between cars and punched or jabbed the woman in her throat.
Thigpen placed his hand on the woman’s throat and pushed her back up against a car, Katris said.
He leaned his back into a car so he could get more pressure on the woman’s neck, Katris said.
Katris said Thigpen held the victim up before she dropped and slumped over.
The victim was wobbly and stood back up. Thigpen then bit the woman on the arm, Katris said.
The woman was seen in video surveillance holding her nose. She also pulled up her sleeve to look at her arm.
Cellphone video also captured the incident in addition to the surveillance video.
Katris said Thigpen “bossed” the victim around even while officers were on the scene investigating when he tried ordering the woman to get into their car and said, “Let’s go, let’s go.”
“He was willing to do these things in public so it is unknown what he would be bold enough to do in private,” Katris said in arguing that Thigpen poses a real and present threat to the woman. “This defendant is dangerous.”
Thigpen has several convictions in his background, including a conviction in 2020 for illegally possessing a firearm where he was sentenced to over three years in prison.
Lake County Judge Theodore Potkonjak granted prosecutors’ petition to detain Thigpen in the Lake County Jail pending trial.
An arraignment hearing is scheduled for August 2.