Judge berates 4 suspects in Chicago video beating
“I find each of you a danger to yourself and society,” Cook County Circuit Judge Maria Kuriakos Ciesil said, sounding baffled that the suspects who hold jobs, attend school and, in one case, care for a brother in a wheelchair could be charged with attacking the 18-year-old victim. How, she wondered, could she agree to allow people accused of such “terrible actions” to walk out of jail?
Prosecutors offered new details of the assault, explaining that one of the suspects demanded $300 from the mother of the victim, who is schizophrenic and has attention-deficit disorder, and that the beating started in a van and continued at a house.
A prosecutor told the judge that the suspects forced the victim to drink toilet water, kiss the floor and then allegedly stuffed a sock into his mouth and taped it shut as they bound his hands with a belt.
The four are charged with two counts of committing a hate crime — one because of the victim's race and the other because of his mental disabilities.
The beating was captured on cellphone video by one of the assailants and has since been viewed millions of times on social media.
On the video, the male suspects use knives to cut the victim's hair and his sweatshirt. One of the females can be seen laughing. A female also laughs as she punches the victim.
One of the men pulled the cord from the victim's sweatshirt around the victim's neck and held him up while the victim was groaning in pain, according to a document read in court. The victim could be heard screaming when one of the men walked up to him with a knife and asked if he should “shank” him.
The video also showed the suspects taunting the victim with profanities against white people and Donald Trump.
At one point, the prosecutor said, someone on the video can be heard saying that he did not care if the victim was schizophrenic.
All of this started, according to prosecutors, when suspect Jordan Hill became angry that the victim's mother had contacted him asking that her son be allowed to return home.
The suspects were identified as Brittany Covington and Tesfaye Cooper, both of Chicago, and Hill, of suburban Carpentersville. All are 18. A fourth suspect was identified as Covington's 24-year-old sister, Tanishia Covington, also of Chicago.
They stood quietly as the prosecutor read the allegations. Some of their relatives listened to the charges, including a woman who wiped tears from her eyes.
Defense attorneys portrayed the suspects as hardworking, responsible and religious. Cooper, for example, was taking care of his twin brother, who is in a wheelchair. Tanishia Covington has two small children. Her sister attends college and has a job. Hill, the judge was told, goes to church with his grandmother.
All four have experienced brushes with the law, some for serious and violent crimes.
Hill, for example, was arrested as a juvenile in 2015 on allegations of armed robbery, possession of a stolen vehicle and residential burglary.
Tanishia Covington was arrested in 2007 on attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery charges. Police records do not show any convictions as a juvenile. As an adult, she was arrested on charges of battery and aggravated assault, but those charges were dropped.
The incident stirred emotions still raw after a presidential campaign that split the nation. The case heightened political tensions on social media, with some conservatives suggesting it was linked to the Black Lives Matter movement.
Police said there was no indication of any connection.