The AirTag is one of Apple’s flagship accessories. The tracker released in 2021 can help you easily find a lost item. The AirTag is even more useful thanks to iOS 18, which allows you to share your location with a loved one via a URL to open in a web browser. Unfortunately, the product sometimes finds itself at the heart of dark stories of harassment. Once is not customary, an AirTag this time allowed the police to trap the culprits of a brutal attack.
An AirTag helps find the culprits of a violent attack on a train
On Sunday, December 22, 2024, Chicago police began searching for two men accused of beat up a food delivery man and stole his electric bike and headphones on a Red Line train in the South Side, a neighborhood of Chicago. One of the two attackers brandished a knife while the other strangled a 20-year-old young man, according to court documents in the case.
Luckily for her, the victim had an Apple AirTag on her bike. Police officers were able to use it to track the two men, aided by video surveillance images from transport operator CTA (Chicago Transit Authority). The attackers, Christopher Owens, 20, and Claude Elder, 44, are both charged with assault and battery and aggravated robbery. The police took them into custody less than an hour after the violent attack.
The young victim, despite the physical and psychological damage, can at least be satisfied with having been able to recover his equipment. We imagine that she should no longer take public transport without her AirTag. Anyway, here is new proof that Apple’s tracker can be beneficial. Remember that the AirTag 2 planned for 2025 would have a new chip supposed to improve its location as well as better autonomy. In addition, it would be much more difficult to remove the built-in speaker and therefore deactivate anti-harassment mode.
