Panhandler Draws Knife On GrubHub Delivery Driver Who Refused Him Food: Cops

EVANSTON, IL — Authorities said a man awaiting trial for the attempted burglary of a downtown Evanston bank branch brandished a knife and threatened to kill someone.

Jordan Lambos, 23, had been out on bail on his own recognizance after he was charged with attempted burglary earlier this month.

According to police and prosecutors, he was arrested in Evanston again Thursday and charged with aggravated assault and unlawful use of a weapon, both misdemeanor offenses, following a call that dispatched officers to an apartment building at 811 Emerson St. shortly after 1:30 a.m.

The man who called police — a 50-year-old food delivery driver for an app-based service — told officers that he was waiting for his customer to come down when he encountered Lambos lying on the floor of the building's vestibule and repeatedly demanding that he hand over the food he was there to deliver, authorities said.

"When the [man] refused to do so, [Lambos] pulled a knife from his jacket pocket, opened it and stated, 'I'm going to f------ kill you,'" said Assistant State's Attorney Gina Pensa.

Officers found the knife in some nearby bushes and Lambos admitted to pulling it on the man who called police, the prosecutor told the judge at Lambos' initial court appearance in Skokie on the assault and weapons charge.

Police reported that Lambos appeared to be intoxicated and, other than admitting that he had pulled a knife on the delivery driver, was otherwise uncooperative during his arrest.

Lambos, who declined to be interviewed by the public defender's office, questioned why he was the one in court at the hearing.

"He put his hands on me," Lambos said. "How is that going to happen that way?"

The case where Lambos had been out on bail steams from a Feb. 22 incident captured on security camera in the Citibank at 817 Church St.

In that incident, a man later identified as Lambos is seen pushing, running and jumping into a security gate, police and prosecutors said.

According to authorities, Lambos was successful in breaking off part of the gate but unable to fit through.

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Police later put out a bulletin with images from the bank's security camera. Several officers said they recognized the figure pictured from prior contacts, and Lambos was arrested on the afternoon of March 8 in the 1000 block of Davis Street, police said.

At the time of his arrest earlier this month, police listed Lambos' address in the 4800 block of North Francisco Street in Chicago. Following his arrest Thursday, he was listed as homeless.

Cook County Associate Judge Anthony Calabrese, who said he recognized Lambos from his appearance in court on the earlier case, set the cash portion of Lambos' bond on the new case at $1,000.

Calabrese ordered Lambos not to have any dangerous weapons or contact with the man he is accused of threatening, and he raised the bond on the earlier burglary case from a no-cash signature bond to require a $5,000 cash payment to secure pretrial release.

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"Are you all really going to lock me up for something as petty such as this?," Lambos asked. "I wasn't going to hurt that man."

"I guess I'm astonished that you're astonished that we would hesitate to lock you up for having a deadly weapon and threatening to kill somebody," Calabrese said.

"I only threatened that man because he threatened—" confessed Lambos.

"And while on bond for a felony offense. So it honestly astonishes me that you're astonished," the judge interrupted. "So I guess the answer is: ‘Most definitely, yes, you're going to go to jail today.’”