4 Teens in Chicago Charged with Hate Crime

*Four suspects have been charged in Chicago in connection with the gruesome beating and torture of a white man that was streamed on Facebook Live.

Tesfaye Cooper, Tanishia Covington, Jordan Hill, Brittany Covington Chicago Police Dept.

Jordan Hill, 18; Tesfaye Cooper; 18; Brittany Covington, 18; and Tanishia Covington, 24, have each been charged with hate crime, felony aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, according to CNN.

Hill, Cooper and Brittany Covington also face charges of residential burglary. Hill also faces charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

The suspects are due in court on Friday.

In the video, the young victim – an 18-year-old with special needs – is repeatedly kicked and punched while bound and gagged in the corner of a room. One assailant slashes his sweatshirt with a knife. One of the men shouts: “*F*ck Donald Trump! F*ck white people!” An attacker then carves a patch off the victim’s scalp with a knife.

The video sparked debate on social media as to whether the assault was in fact a hate crime. Was the victim targeted because he was white? Because he had special needs? Or for another reason?

A certain faction of social media immediately blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for the attack. The hashtag #BLMKidnapping even began trending on Twitter.

The perpetrators made a wide array of statements in the video, including repeated references to Trump, white people in general, the victim’s appearance and Black Lives Matter. But on Thursday, police said they have not been able to make any connection to the activist group.

****

Tribune: The man was found wandering the streets in shorts Tuesday evening in the 3400 block of West Lexington Street in the Homan Square neighborhood, police said.  Investigators believe he may have been attacked at a home about a block east from where he was found.

He had been reported missing Monday by his parents who said he disappeared after they dropped him off at a McDonald’s in Streamwood on Saturday, according to police. The man apparently met someone he considered a friend, and then got involved with a group of people who stole a van from Streamwood.

Streamwood police said the parents began getting text messages from someone “claiming to be holding him captive.” As Streamwood officers investigated the texts, they “discovered Facebook video depicting (the man) being verbally and physically abused.”

Streamwood investigators were soon contacted by Chicago police saying they had found the man who had been reported missing, police said.  Soon after that, officers were called to a home in the 3300 block of West Lexington about 5:25 p.m. and found signs of a struggle and property damage that they linked to the attack, according to police.

****

What constitutes a hate crime

According to the city of Chicago’s website, “Hate crimes are acts of bigotry, and are committed because of the intended victim’s actual or perceived ancestry, color, creed, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability (including HIV status), or national origin. Hate crimes not only harm the victim, but also the group in which the targeted member belongs.”

And according to Illinois law, hate can be considered an aggravating factor in a criminal charge and can result in a more severe sentence. Police in Streamwood said that after the man was reported missing, his parents began getting text messages from someone “claiming to be holding him captive.”  More here from CNN.