Chicago: FOUR African-Americans accused of attacking an 18-year-old man with special needs while making anti-white racial taunts and broadcasting assault on Facebook were charged with hate crimes in Illinois yesterday.
Jordan Hill, Tesfaye Cooper, and sisters Brittany and Tanishia Covington were each charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Tanisha Covington was the eldest at 24, while her sister and the two men were 18 years old.
“This should never happen,” David Boyd, the victim’s brother-in-law, said at a news conference. He said the family was overwhelmed by support expressed on social media.
The incident, part of which was streamed on the service Facebook Live on Tuesday, drew attention of US President Barack Obama, who called it “terrible” in an interview with Chicago’s ABC-TV affiliate.
“Part of what technology allows us to see now is the terrible toll that racism and discrimination and hate takes on families and communities,” Obama said yesterday.
The victim, who is white, has “mental health challenges,” Chicago police said. He was not identified.
Police said the victim knew at least one of his alleged torturers, meeting Hill at a restaurant in a northwestern suburb of Chicago late last week.
