Chicago Facebook Beating Update: 4 Suspects Denied Bail As Judge Asks, 'Where Was Your Sense Of Decency?'
Four suspects charged with hate crimes over beating a mentally disabled 18-year-old while simultaneously streaming a video of the grisly incident on Facebook were denied bail Friday by Cook County Associate Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil.
"Where was your sense of decency," Ciesil asked the four defendants in court. Brittany Covington, Tesfaye Cooper, Jordan Hill and Tanishia Covington have been charged with hate crimes, aggravated kidnapping and battery after they beat a white suburban man Tuesday on Facebook Live while shouting pejorative comments about President-elect Donald Trump and white Americans.
"It’s sickening," Chicago Police Department Superintendent Eddie Johnson told local reports during a news conference Wednesday. "It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat someone like that."
All of the suspects are 18 except for Covington, who is 24. The beating occurred after the victim's parents dropped him off at a McDonalds in Streamwood on Chicago's West Side. The victim told his parents he was meeting up with his school friend, Hill. He was picked up in a stolen van by Hill and spent the night inside of it. Hill and the victim spent two days visiting friends on Chicago's West Side until Tuesday when they went to Covington's sister home and the white man was threatened with a knife, bound and attacked. The video shows the suspects holding the victim captive while forcibly ushering him to denounce Trump.
The victim's parents reported their son missing Monday night. The victim has not been named.
“That’s when racial slurs and deference to his mental capacity starts coming out,” Duffin said at a news conference Thursday, referring to a video that surfaced of the incident. “That’s primarily one of the reasons why they were charged with the hate crime.”
In the video, one of the suspects can be heard yelling, “F--- white people.” while another can screamed at the victim, “Say f--- Donald Trump.”
The victim eventually concedes and can be hear saying, “F--- Donald Trump.” He was able to free himself after reportedly being held captive for six hours. Local police found the victims walking on a street close to the Covingtons’ apartment building Tuesday after the victim alerted a neighbor and officers were dispatched to the scene.
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