No time for naps: CTA rider rouses a chorus of fans

john kass, tribune
Published September 24, 2004

Gaurav "Legs of Death" Bhatia, the grad student slapped with a $50 ticket for dozing dangerously on the CTA, is a busy man as he approaches his court date and fights with City Hall over sleepers' rights.

A cousin is making T-shirts with the message: "I got a $50 ticket for sleeping on the CTA!"

And two brave lawyers--Adam Goodman and Brad Ockene (shameless but well-deserved plug)--have come forward to champion his cause at 10 a.m. Oct. 1, at the Central Hearing Facility, 400 W. Superior St.

Also, Bhatia's fellow students at IIT are developing slogans to chant in Hindi at his big day in administrative court.

"They're protest chants," he said, sheepishly.

I asked to hear a few.

"Well, OK, here's one," he said. "It begins, `Hai, CTA! Hai! Hai! Hai!'"

And what does that mean?

"It means, `CTA, shame on you! Shame on you, CTA.' That's what they'll be chanting, since I got the ridiculous $50 ticket for sleeping."

He added: "When you say `Hai!' you make a fist, you know, to fight the power."

This will come in handy for all CTA commuters, now that CTA boss Honest Frank Kruesi is threatening massive service cuts. I can hear commuters singing, "Hai! Honest Frank, Hai! Hai! Hai!"

Is there another chant?

"Oh, yes," Bhatia said, laughing. "`Veer Bahadur Gaurav Amar Rahe!!!' This means, `You're strong! You're fighting the powerful!' It's like, `Power to the people.'"

That's nice. But "Hai!" is easier.

Recently, I told you about Bhatia being accused of a terrible crime: napping on the Orange Line on the way to work.

Since then, he has become an international celebrity spokesman for commuter sleepers' rights. He's been interviewed on the BBC World Service and by Don Wade and Roma of WLS-AM, who unfortunately are off the air and in contract negotiations just as Legs of Death needs them.

His story also made the Times of India. "Friends from back home can't believe it. They say, `Are you the sleeper?' And when I say yes, they say, `No way. Seriously?' And I say, `Yes, I am the sleeper.'"

The big news is that he picked legal counsel.

"Yes, I have chosen legal representation," Bhatia told me. "I have a lawyer."

I'd given Legs of Death a file full of e-mail messages from lawyers who responded to a recent column asking for attorneys to help him. I got emotional reading their notes, since all the lawyers offered to work for no charge.

That means free, don't forget.

Unfortunately, some top legal mouthpieces didn't apply for the free work.

Eddie Genson is busy representing indicted political insider Larry Warner in former Gov. George Ryan's corruption case. Genson would have been ideal for Legs of Death, as long as Legs of Death refused to cooperate with the feds. Fast Eddie Vrdolyak didn't volunteer. And neither did Michael Daley, but then Bhatia doesn't need a zoning change.

He insists his legs were in front of him, his knees crammed up against the back of the next seat, not sprawled in the aisle as police now allege. Johnnie Cochran could have represented him with this slogan:

"If the legs don't fit, you must acquit!"

Happily, Bhatia's new lawyers, Adam Goodman and Brad Ockene, don't talk in rhyme. They're part of the giant international law firm, Lovells, with 26 offices in 18 nations, including one in Chicago.

Ockene, 43, is a former assistant United States attorney. He worked as a federal prosecutor in New York in the Terrorism and Organized Crime Division that was run by the same Patrick Fitzgerald who now is U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Goodman, 34, received his law degree from the University of Chicago. He claims to have never lost a city ticket case.

"He wrote that he had a winning track record of getting out of a few tickets, so that makes me feel better," Bhatia said. "And my cousins' sister, Priya Bhatia, knows him. She told me to go with him, so that's what I decided to do."

Ockene said that the column persuaded him to take the case for free.

"Everybody that knows about this case says, `C'mon! How can this be?' I know you're running a poll on the Tribune Web site which indicates that the public agrees. It's not a great use of discretion on the police's part," he said.

A recent Tribune Internet poll shows that 92.8 percent of you agree that sleeping on the CTA should not be a crime.

But the CTA has an ordinance allowing police to ticket sleepers if they are considered a danger to themselves or others. So Bhatia, who was minding his own business, was ticketed for sleeping dangerously.

And now great legal minds are drawing up a challenge. This law must be defeated.

If not, then all commuters will have one word for the politicians: "Hai!"

And remember that it doesn't mean hello.