Four suspects have been charged in connection with the attack on a special-needs teen that was streamed on Facebook Live.
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.
Hill, Cooper and Brittany Covington also face charges of residential burglary. Hill also faces charges of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Video of the torture has stunned the country, not just but because of the graphic abuse, but because of the comments made by some of the assailants.
“F*ck Donald Trump!” one attacker shouted in the video. “F*ck white people!”
It’s now 2017. If an attacker can be heard on the video using the word “fuck” then report that. It’s as though someone is going to read about how this special-needs teen was held against his will and subjected to torture, but get outraged over the fact the word “fuck” was correctly spelled out.
It’s 2017. Stop protecting people from dirty words. Stop coddling people.
It should surprise no one that this brutal incident took place in Chicago. The four suspects sound like they are both vicious and stupid, a really bad combination. They’re vicious for what they did to the victim. They are stupid for posting the whole thing on Facebook.
I don’t understand why they’re charged with a hate crime. I understand the victim is white and the suspects are black, but this crime would have been just as heinous if everyone involved was black, white, or Asian.
I don’t agree with hate crimes. Not really. Since when is it against the law to hate someone or something? As far as I’m concerned, these four animals should be allowed to hate Donald Trump or even to hate white people if they want to. What they’re not allowed to do is to kidnap, restrain, and then torture someone. Hate can be a motive, but it cannot or should not be the crime itself. The kidnapping, restraint, and battery are far worse than any supposed hate crime.
Hate is an emotion. I care about the act of violence. I could not care less about the emotional state of a criminal when they commit an act of violence.
