Three white teenagers were charged with a hate crime for the alleged beating of a black teenager because he was dating one of their cousins, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Eighteen-year-old Matthew Herrmann and two other minors are accused of beating 17-year-old Joshua Merritt, putting a noose around his neck, yelling racial epithets at him, and holding him at knife-point in December.
“He walks over to me, with the noose in his hand, he comes puts the noose around my neck and he begins to tighten the noose, almost strangled me to the ground,” Merritt told FOX Chicago News.
All three alleged attackers and the victim reportedly attended Brother Rice High School, an all-boys, Catholic high school in Chicago, according to the Tribune.
If the allegations are true, the boys definitely didn’t follow what Jesus would have done.
Herrmann was charged with felony counts of committing a hate crime and unlawful restraint, as well as misdemeanor battery, according to Chicago police. The two minors were cited in delinquency petitions on the same charges, with one of the minors receiving an additional charge of aggravated assault for threatening with a knife.
Police believe the attack may have been triggered by the victim’s developing relationship with one of the minor’s cousins.
Under Illinois law, a person commits a hate crime when he or she commits a specific crime against a victim because of the victim’s race, color, creed, or other protected classification. A hate crime is a class 4 felony for a first offense but becomes a class 3 felony if it is committed in certain places, such as a church or school.
For more information on hate crimes and hate crime prevention, see our Related Resources section.
Related Resources:
- Find a Chicago Criminal Defense Attorney (FindLaw)
- Hate Crimes and Criminal Civil Rights Violations (FindLaw)
- Teens Charged in Bridgeport Beating, Deputy’s Son as Adult (The Chicago Criminal Law Blog)
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