Chicago police on Thursday filed hate crime and battery charges against a group of black adults accused of kidnapping and attacking a mentally disabled white man.
Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, of Chicago, Brittany Covington, 18, of Chicago, and Tanishia Covington, 24, of Chicago were charged with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.
Hill also was charged with robbery, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and residential burglary, and Cooper and Brittany Covington were charged with residential burglary.
Under Illinois law, it is a hate crime to commit battery on someone due to a physical or mental disability, or their race. Police did not elaborate on Thursday what prompted them to file the hate crime charges.
Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said the four suspects who kidnapped and Facebook Live-streamed the assault on a mentally disabled male made “terrible racist statements” during the attack. However, he added that police believe the victim was targeted because he has “special needs,” not because of his race.
The suspects filmed themselves as they tortured the 18-year-old man as he crouched against a wall with his wrists bound and mouth taped. At one point in the 28-minute video, one of them yelled, “f—k Donald Trump” and “f—k white people.”
One of the men is seen on the video cutting the victim’s hair and scalp with a knife, and the victim can be seen later in the video bleeding from his injuries.
The victim, who was reported missing by his parents in a Chicago suburb earlier this week, was found wandering the streets in shorts Tuesday evening.
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson called the attack and video “sickening.”
“It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that,” said Johnson. “I’ve been a cop for 28 years, and I’ve seen things that you shouldn’t see in a lifetime, but it still amazes me how you still see things that you just shouldn’t.”
