2017 Chicago torture incident

On December 31, 2016, the victim, an 18-year-old mentally-disabled white male,[1][2] was dropped off by his parents at a McDonald's in suburban Streamwood, Illinois, where the victim wanted to meet Jordan Hill, one of the perpetrators. The victim knew Hill before the incident, as the two had attended the same school in Aurora, Illinois, and mistakenly considered him a friend. On January 2, 2017, the victim's parents filed a report that he was missing.[3]

According to police reports, Hill had stolen a van and, pretending that it was his own, picked up the victim. They drove to the West Side of Chicago, where they picked up one of Hill's friends, Tesfaye Cooper. During that time, the victim slept in the van.[3] On January 3, they travelled to the apartment of sisters Brittany and Tanishia Covington. There, the perpetrators proceeded to tie the victim up.[3]

The younger of the sisters then turned on a Facebook Live stream to record the following events. The victim was bound, gagged, beaten, taunted, had part of his scalp removed with a knife, and was forced to kiss the floor and drink from a toilet bowl.[4][1] The attackers are heard shouting "Fuck Trump" and "Fuck white people" in the video. They forced the victim to say "Fuck Trump" as well.[1][5] One of the perpetrators contacted the victim's mother and demanded a $300 ransom for the victim's return.[6] Although the Facebook Live stream only lasted 28 minutes, the victim was tied up for hours. Police suspected that the attack stopped when neighbors in a downstairs apartment complained about noise levels.[3]

Four perpetrators were arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated unlawful restraint, aggravated battery, and hate crime: Jordan Hill and Tesfaye Cooper, two 18-year-old males, as well as sisters Brittany Covington (18 years old) and Tanishia Covington (24 years old).[1][7][8][9][10][11]

On February 10, 2017, all four perpetrators pleaded not guilty at their arraignment.[12] On May 16, 2017, a judge set bail for the four individuals: $900,000 for Hill; $800,000 for Cooper; $500,000 for Brittany Covington; and $200,000 for Tanishia Covington.[13] None of the four defendants were able to post bail.[14]

On December 8, 2017, Brittany Covington pleaded guilty to the charges of committing a hate crime, intimidation and aggravated battery. Additional charges, such as kidnapping, were dropped as part of her plea deal. Covington was sentenced to four years of probation and 200 hours of community service. Cook County Circuit Judge William Hooks said that he could have sentenced her to prison, but did not because "I'm not sure if I did that you'd be coming out any better."[15][16]

On April 19, 2018, Tanishia Covington pleaded guilty to the charges of committing a hate crime, intimidation and aggravated battery and was sentenced to three years in prison.[17]

On July 5, 2018, Jordan Hill pleaded guilty to the charges of aggravated kidnapping and committing a hate crime and was sentenced to eight years in prison.[18][19]

On July 12, 2018, Tesfaye Cooper pleaded guilty to a hate crime and aggravated kidnapping.[20] Cooper has been sentenced to seven years in prison.[21]

On January 3, at approximately 5:15 p.m., Harrison District Officer Michael Donnelly saw the victim walking with the perpetrator that the victim had gone to high school with. The victim was observed by Officer Donnelly to be wearing summer clothing during winter conditions. Police said the victim appeared "injured" and "confused". Donnelly later stated, "I observed him wearing a tank top, inside-out, backwards, jean shorts and sandals on...He was bloodied. He was battered. He was very discombobulated."[3] Running the victim's name through police databases, Officer Donnelly discovered that the victim was reported as a missing person and brought him to the hospital.[3]

The live stream was later deleted, but archives still exist.[1] There was widespread outrage over the beating.[22] In its aftermath, the hashtag #BLMKidnapping was trending on Twitter, implying a connection with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.[22] None of the attackers specifically mentioned Black Lives Matter in the video and the police found there to be no direct connection.[23] Representatives for Black Lives Matter's Chicago branch denounced the beating and stated that they were uninvolved, and police stated that they found no evidence that Black Lives Matter was the motive of the incident.[23] Some media pundits, such as Glenn Beck, suggested that the rhetoric of Black Lives Matter and its supporters had encouraged the attackers, while other commentators disputed this claim.[22][24]

President Barack Obama released a statement condemning the incident, saying, "What we have seen as surfacing, I think, are a lot of problems that have been there a long time... Whether it's tensions between police and communities, (or) hate crimes of the despicable sort that has just now recently surfaced on Facebook."[3][25] Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said, "Anyone who has seen it [finds the video] both sickening and sickened by it," while Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana said that they were "deeply saddened and disturbed by the horrific violence" depicted in the live stream.[26]