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CHICAGO (WLS) — We all know ABC7’s Leah Hope as smart, strong, and as tough as they come. She is veteran reporter who has covered stories in tough places.
But on Monday night, our friend and colleague sat down for the most personal of interviews.
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“All I could think of was, ‘Is this it? Is this it?’ And then, I thought about my daughter. I thought about my family,” Leah said.
For three decades, Leah has been a face of ABC7, covering other people’s stories.
“It is so surreal to be on this side. It is so surreal that it even happened,” Leah said.
On Jan. 2, a little before 1 p.m., Leah was covering the impending closure of the State and Lake elevated train station. Her personal vehicle was parked on State Street, and as she got in to drive to another part of the story, it happened.
“Got in the car, put my seatbelt on, went to put it in drive, and he was there,” Leah said.
He, police say, was 43-year-old Noah Johnson.
“At first, he was trying to pull me out, but I had this big parka on, and so he’s pulling me and hitting me,” Leah said. “And I was just at a great disadvantage, and so I was honking the horn and screaming, and I just was fighting. I was fighting for my life.”
Leah continued, “But the worst part was as I was screaming, he grabbed my lower jaw, and then he was pulling me out of the car by my lower jaw, and that ripped my tongue from the bottom of my mouth, tore the ligaments from my jaw.”
It was at that moment that others rushed to help.
“Four guys pulled him off of me. He kept charging at me. They kept pulling him off of me, and they shut my door,” Leah said. “These four guys who I didn’t know, my angels, my angels.”
Leah continued, “One of them had him pinned on the street. There was a woman at the bus stop… She said, ‘I saw what just happened. Do you want me to just sit with you?’”
Leah’s attacker managed to break free from the men and calmly walked away, even passing ABC7’s State Street studio at State and Lake.
Days later, Johnson was arrested and charged after Leah identified him in a photo array.
“I hope that he gets the support that he needs,” Leah said.
Leah was off the air for five weeks as she healed from her injuries. She hopes her story inspires action.
“We need to do more. We need to do better for people who have fallen through the cracks, people who are unhoused, people who are unwell,” Leah said. “The consequences of people not getting the support they need, it affects us all.”
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Eric Horng
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