Two of the suspects arrested in the taped torture of a mentally disabled Chicago man allegedly kept the victim in a stolen van for two days, and the victim only escaped when apartment neighbors angered by the noise called the cops, Chicago police said.
The Chicago police held a press conference Thursday discussing the hate crime charges against four suspects accused of torturing a bound, gagged, and disabled man and recording themselves on tape.
During the video, broadcast on Facebook Live, assailants can be heard saying, “fuck white people” and forcing the tormented victim to say “fuck Donald Trump” as they beat him, slashed his scalp to the bone, and cut him repeatedly.
Police commander Kevin Duffin said the victim had met with one of the suspects in a McDonald’s—where his trusting parents dropped him off, thinking he was going to a sleepover with friends. When they didn’t hear from him the next day, they reported him missing.
Suspect Jordan Hill allegedly stole a van and picked up the victim, Duffin continued, along with one other suspect. The suspects were “driving around and basically visiting friends for the next two days,” he said, with the victim sleeping in the van.
On Jan. 3, the victim was taken to a Chicago apartment where, several hours later, he was bound and “assaulted,” Duffin said.
“He is able to escape when a downstairs neighbor calls the police complaining about all the noise upstairs. The police respond, and the two female offenders now go downstairs. They’re angry that the police were called. They kick in the door of the apartment. Hence they are also charged with burglary,” Duffin said. “That gives our victim an opportunity to get out, and he is observed walking down the street by our Eleventh District officers.”
Chicago police officer Michael Donnelly said he saw the victim walking in an inside-out tank top, shorts, and sandals in the cold weather. “He was bloodied; he was battered,” the officer said. He called an ambulance and police discovered he was the missing victim.
Two of the female suspects were smoking marijuana and became “aggravated” at the victim, “and that’s when the mental capacity starts coming out,” Duffin said.
“That’s primarily one of the reasons they were charged with a hate crime,” he added.
Police have arrested three 18-year-old suspects along with one 24-year-old: Jordan Hill, Brittany Covington, Tesfaye Cooper, and Tanishia Covington.
Police say the investigation has concluded, and the charges pressed against all four suspects include hate crimes; aggravated kidnapping; aggravated, unlawful restraint; and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. Three of the four suspects are also charged with residential burglary, while one of the offenders was slapped with another charge of robbery and possession of a stolen motor vehicle, according to police superintendent Eddie Johnson.
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