A convicted felon was released Monday ahead of his trial after being charged in an attack last month at a Green Line station downtown that left a 9-year-old boy dead.
Michael Korosa, 52, is charged with a felony count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Elijah Flores, Cook County court records show. He was also charged with another felony for allegedly battering a transit employee.
Surveillance video captured Elijah and his caretaker, Jonah Soria, exiting a Green Line train on the morning of Aug. 10 while Soria was arguing with Korosa and another man, according to a police report. At Korosa’s detention hearing Monday, prosecutors told a Cook County judge that Soria stole money out of Korosa’s friend’s hand on the train platform and ran away.
During the altercation at the Clinton station, the men gave chase and Soria grabbed Elijah because the boy couldn’t keep up, the report says. One of the men then hit Soria in the back with a cane, causing him to fall down a flight of stairs, prosecutors said. He landed on top of Elijah, who was knocked unconscious and suffered a skull fracture.
CTA surveillance video shows Elijah face down on the ground after the fall, according to prosecutors.
Korosa and his friend demanded the money back and Soria threw it down the stairs, prosecutors said. Soria told Korosa’s friend not to call anyone and that Elijah was OK, then brought him to another train and boarded. On the train, Elijah stopped moving and another passenger called 911.
The boy was later declared brain dead, and his death was ruled a homicide. Funeral services were held over the weekend.
A petition to detain Korosa ahead of his trial was denied by a judge Monday.
By Monday, fundraisers on GoFundMe had raised more than $30,000 to help Elijah’s family with medical and funeral expenses.
“We would like to sincerely thank everyone for your love, prayers, and generous donations during this heartbreaking time,” Elijah’s family wrote in a statement Friday. “Your kindness has lifted us and helped us carry the weight of this loss. Because Elijah touched so many lives with his joy, laughter, and beautiful spirit.”
Korosa has a long history of arrests and has served time for drug possession, theft, aggravated battery and other crimes, according to Cook County court records.
In the battery case, he cut a security guard with a box cutter at a downtown Walgreens in January 2020, records show. He was sentenced to two years in prison later that year, though he had already served 341 days.
He was arrested three days after the attack on Elijah when officers allegedly found him with a pocket knife, a pipe and suspected heroin after they saw him smoking in a prohibited area at the 51st Street CTA station. That case is pending, records show.
Korosa’s next court date is scheduled for Thursday.