Chicago Facebook Live beating suspects charged with hate crimes

Four young African-Americans were charged with hate crimes and other felonies  in Chicago on Thursday for allegedly tying up, beating and torturing a white acquaintance — a special needs student — and livestreaming the assault on Facebook.

The half-hour video, which exploded on social media Wednesday, appears to show at least one black man torturing and taunting the 18-year-old victim and making disparaging remarks about President-elect Donald Trump.

Authorities said the victim was a friend of one of the suspects, Jordan Hill, 18,  and the pair spent a day and night driving around Chicago in a stolen van before ending up at a West Side apartment, where two sisters, Brittany and Tanishia Covington, lived.

Hill allegedly tied up the victim and began a methodical, five-hour assault on him Tuesday after playful fighting turned ugly, police said.

"They (the female suspects) got aggravated with him, and that is when he was tied up and the racial slurs, the deferences to his mental capacity started coming out," said Police Cmdr. Kevin Duffin. "That is primarily why they are charged with a hate crime."

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The Cook County prosecutors office charged Hill, of Carpentersville, Ill., along with Tesfaye Cooper, 18, Brittany Covington, 18,  and Tanishia Covington, 24, all of Chicago, with aggravated kidnapping, hate crime, aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and residential burglary. Hill was also charged with robbery and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.

Duffin said the suspects told police they beat the victim, kicked him and made him drink toilet water. The video also shows his scalp being cut by a knife.

Police said the incident came to a head after a downstairs neighbor threatened to report them over the noise. The sisters, angered by the threat, went downstairs and kicked in the neighbor's door, giving the victim a chance to escape.

He was spotted by police Tuesday afternoon walking along a sidewalk in cold weather wearing only sandals, jeans shorts and a tank top turned inside out and backward.

"He was bloodied, he was battered," said officer Michael Donnelly, who came upon the victim. "He was very discombobulated, he was injured, he was confused."

Donnelly said a check showed that the victim had been reported missing by his parents, who dropped him off at a McDonald's Saturday in the Chicago suburb of Streamwood to spend the night with Hill. At one point, the parents told police they began getting text messages from someone claiming to be holding him captive and alerted police.

The release of the video on social media produced a torrent of horrified reactions, sadness and anger. The head of the Special Olympics expressed solidarity with and sympathy for the victim and his family.

"He has gone through something no teen-ager should ever experience," wrote Tim Shriver, chairman of the Special Olympics, in a statement. "Sadly, people with intellectual and other developmental disabilities are all too routinely victims of exploitation, misunderstanding and even violence. Taunting and bullying remain an epidemic for children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Violence against people with ID is usually based on misunderstanding and ignorance and is all too often hidden. Our hope is that this horrific crime will result in a teachable moment where respect for and sensitivity to the needs of people with disabilities will be taught to all young people in Chicago and across the nation."

In announcing the charges, Chicago  Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson called the actions in the video "reprehensible."  He indicated that the hate crime charges were based on racial comments and disparaging comments made by the suspects regarding the victim's mental condition.

The video, linked here, includes raw language. At one point, as the victim crouches against a wall with his wrists bound and his mouth taped shut, someone is heard on the video shouting, “F‑‑‑ Donald Trump” and “F‑‑‑ white people.”

The four were expected to appear in court on Friday.

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The video was initially posted via Facebook Live under the account of someone named Brittany Herring and spread quickly through Twitter under the hashtag #BLMKidnapping.

BLM is an apparent reference to the social justice group Black Lives Matter, which did not appear to have any connection to the video.

Facebook has confirmed that it removed the original video from one of the suspect's Facebook profiles as part of their policy banning the celebration or glorification of crimes.

Police said in a statement that the victim, who is from a Chicago suburb, was in stable condition. Johnson said the victim has "mental health challenges."

In a news conference, Johnson described the video as “sickening.”

The video, recorded by one of the women in the group, appears to show two men using knives to cut the man's shirt, then taking turns hitting him and stomping his head.  At one point, one of the men appears to cut the victim’s hair and scalp. The assailants are also seen fingering a bleeding wound on the top of his head as a woman in the video laughs.

“It makes you wonder what would make individuals treat somebody like that,” Johnson said. “I've been a cop for 28 years and I've seen things that you shouldn't see. It still amazes me how you still see things that you just shouldn't."

Some residents of Chicago's West side, where the attack occurred, were gathering Thursday afternoon to express their sorrow for the incident and to raise money for the victim.

"My church members have called me sickened by what they saw in the torture of the young man in our community," says the Rev. Marshall Hatch. "The residents want others to know that their hearts are touched and want give to help the healing of the victim."

"There is no excuse for kidnap and abuse," says the Rev. Ira Acree  Co-Chair of the Leaders Network. "Our phones are ringing ... people want to help. Many of our families have children with special needs and feel it could have been their family."

Contributing: Associated Press