Anthony Kyser didn't have money for the tubes of toothpaste he stuffed in his jacket before he walked out of a Little Village CVS store Saturday morning.
He paid with his life, instead.
Chased out of the store and down a litter-strewn alley shortly before 11
a.m., the 35-year-old unemployed barber was strangled to death by a
CVS employee who had seen him shoplifting, officials said.
Witnesses said Kyser, of the 1400 block of South Hamlin, cried, "I can't
breathe, I can't breathe!" as the CVS worker held him in a chokehold for
what they thought was several minutes. Three other men attempted to
restrain him in the alley behind the 2600 block of South Pulaski, the
witnesses said.
The medical examiner ruled Kyser's death a homicide, saying an autopsy
showed he had been strangled, but police said Sunday the employee who
killed him won't be charged.
Police are treating the death as "accidental," Chicago Police spokesman
Daniel O'Brien said.
That's a decision Kyser's outraged family can't understand.
"Why would you kill someone over toothpaste?" his ex-wife, Ann Balboa,
said through tears Sunday.
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