Chicago tagger takes a deadly plunge

A man given probation just two days ago for criminal damage to property died Tuesday night after plunging into the Chicago River while being chased by police for tagging a building.

Jason Kitchekeg, 26, of Mokena was one of three men being chased by officers for spray-painting a building on Ashland Avenue, police said. Kitchekeg, a longtime Uptown resident, was likely tagging an abandoned paint manufacturing plant there.

Cops caught two of the men, but Kitchekeg jumped into the river near the 2800 block of South Ashland, officials said. He died of drowning in an accident, an autopsy by the Cook County medical examiner’s office found today.

Aided by a helicopter, the police Marine Unit and Fire Department personnel worked for about 30 minutes to rescue the man after he was spotted at about 6:45 p.m. in the river near Bubbly Creek.

Firefighters pulled Kitchekeg from the water and he was rushed to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 8:16 p.m., according to hospital spokesman Marcel Bright.

Court records show Kitchekeg had pleaded guilty several times to graffiti-related charges. On Monday, he was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor damage to property charge.

He also was required to complete 30 hours of community service and pay $1,400 in restitution. Kitchekeg had been charged with felony criminal defacement in the same case, but that charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.

A.J. Harris has known Kitchekeg for about five years.

“I went to bed last night saying, ‘I hope that isn’t our friend,’ ” Harris said. “I’m up now and I know it was.”

Kitchekeg was a longtime resident of the Uptown area and “had so much love and compassion for Chicago,” Harris said. When it came to work, he was “a jack of all trades” and had ups and downs in his life. While he lived in the suburbs recently, “he still has friends here,” Harris said.

Kitchekeg tried other types of graffiti but was “more about getting his name out there” by tagging, Harris said.

The area where Kitchekeg died is a magnet for taggers and graffiti painters because of a large abandoned factory nearby. The abandoned factory, a former manufacturing plant for Valspar Paints, is located at 2841 S. Ashland Ave. It is a magnet for graffiti and photographers whole chronicle urban decay because it is easily accessible.

The back of the Valspar plant is along Bubbly Creek and the plant is just north of a railroad line and the CTA Orange Line.

Although the building is not legally open to the public, the Valspar plant is easy to get into, as are many former factories such as the former Brach’s Candy manufacturing plant near Lake Street and Cicero Avenue.

Harris said he is working on a tribute to Kitchekeg on a building along the CTA Red Line, which he is doing with the permission of a building owner.

“Sadly, it will get turned into a story about a criminal” dying while being chased by police, Harris said. But Kitchekeg “was a good guy.”

“Just because he was a graffiti artist doesn’t mean he was a bad person,” Harris said. “He was a great guy and he was well liked. It’s still graffiti . . .but he wasn’t out being malicious or trying to hurt anyone. Sadly, he went out doing what he loved.”

source: chicagobreakingnews.com