Riverdale man charged with beating 2 women in Naperville

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Updated: March 11, 2012 8:53AM

A 24-year-old man from south suburban Riverdale faces trial following a bizarre incident on Naperville’s far south side, in which he allegedly beat two women in an apartment complex and then held police at bay for more than an hour before swallowing a household chemical.

Members of the Naperville Police Department’s Special Response Team — similar to a SWAT team — cordoned off the area around the complex after the suspect, Corman L. Smith, “used a slang term that led us to believe” he was armed with a handgun, police Sgt. Gregg Bell said Thursday. No gun or other weapon was found, Bell said.

The incident occurred about 2:29 a.m. Tuesday on the 1100 block of Cordula Circle, in the city’s Rose Hill Farm neighborhood. Bell said a 21-year-old woman who lives in an apartment complex there told police she had been battered by a man she identified as Smith.

Bell said the woman told police another woman and a teenage girl were inside an apartment with Smith. Both eventually were able to leave, but Smith “remained inside and led police to believe he was armed,” Bell said via e-mail.

The Special Response Team “was activated and responded at 7:13 a.m., and cordoned off the immediate area,” Bell said. Smith about 8:34 a.m. emerged from the building and surrendered to police, “stating he had ingested cleaning chemicals,” Bell said.

Paramedics took Smith to Edward Hospital in Naperville. Hospital spokesman Keith Hartenberger confirmed Smith underwent treatment there before being “transferred from the hospital.” Hartenberger, citing federal privacy laws, would not say where Smith was then taken.

Bell said both women told police they were battered by Smith. The teenager was not hurt.

Smith also allegedly contended he had been shot four times prior to the disturbance. Bell dismissed that claim, saying Smith “had not been shot earlier, as he had attempted to lead people to believe.”

Police charged Smith with two felony counts of domestic battery, one felony count of unlawful restraint and one misdemeanor count of interfering with the reporting of a domestic situation. His arraignment in Will County Circuit Court in Joliet is pending.

An examination of Will County and DuPage County court records indicated Smith has no criminal record here.