Police: Hate Crimes Charges for Four in Chicago After Allegedly Kidnapping, Torturing Disabled Man on Facebook Live

Horrific, Vile, Disgusting Attack

Three 18-year olds and a 24-year old have been arrested and charged with hate crimes after allegedly kidnapping an 18-year old intellectually disabled man. Police say he was tied up, “scalped,” and forced to drink water out of the toilet, as the assault was streamed on Facebook Live. According to various reports, the four alleged assailants, who are Black, yelled comments like, “F*ck Donald Trump!” and “F*ck white people!” 

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

30 minutes of live streaming video “shows the 18-year-old victim cowering in the corner of a room, tied up with his mouth bound in plastic. His eyes exude fear as his attackers get ready for their next act.”

One assailant slashes his sweatshirt with a knife. The young woman streaming the abuse on Facebook Live repeatedly turns the camera back to herself. 

An attacker then takes a knife to the victim’s head, carving a patch off his scalp. 

For the next 25 minutes, the abuse continues for the world to see. The victim is repeatedly kicked and punched, but his screams are apparently ignored. 

The young woman broadcasting the attack appears dismayed that she’s not getting more attention online. 

“Y’all not even commenting on my s***,” she tells a friend during the live stream.

On social media, Trump supporters tried to claim the four, now under arrest, were connected with the Black Lives Matter movement, despite there being zero evidence. On Twitter, the hashtag #BLMkidnapping was used to advance the false claim. Chicago police confirmed there was no connection to BLM.

“There’s no proof Black Lives Matter had anything to do with the torture of a disabled Chicago man,” Vice News reports. “A Chicago PD spokesman said Thursday that police don’t believe the victim was targeted because he was white, despite his attackers making ‘terrible racist statements.'”