PREGNANT SMOKER ASSAULTED!

WEST DUNDEE, ILL - An Algonquin, ILL., man was arrested Sunday afternoon at Spring Hill Mall and charged with assaulting a pregnant woman, apparently because he was bothered by her cigarette smoke, police said.
Police charged Gerald Thompson, 38, of Algonquin with aggravated battery of a pregnant woman.
Thompson had been shopping at the mall when at about 3 p.m., he apparently saw a 28-year-old Carpentersville woman, who is 8 1/2 months pregnant, sitting and smoking nearby, police said.
Thompson apparently became enraged because he wa bothered by the smoke, police said. He allegedly walked up to the woman and grabbed her right hand, then twisted it and bent it behind her head until she dropped the cigarette, police said.
"He walked away saying, "There is no smoking in the mall," according to the police report.
"He just said he was overcome by the smoke and he took it upon himself to vigilante the situation, " said West Dundee Officer Steve Pirtle. The police officer said the assailant wasn't necessarily acting out of concern for the effects smoking could have on the woman's fetus.
"he is a nonsmoker," Pirtle said. "He was just worried about himself."
Thompson had been shopping with his wife, son and daughter, police said.
The pregnant woman later identified him to mall security officers, who called the police.
Thompson was being held in the West Dundee jail until he could appear at a bond hearing Monday in Elgin, police said.
Aggravated battery of a pregnant woman is a Class 3 felony punishable by 8 to 10 years in jail.