A Juvenile Court judge Wednesday threw out hate-crime charges in connection with the alleged beating Monday of a 12-year-old white pupil by three African-Americans at a South Side elementary school, said Bob Benjamin, a spokesman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Judge Charles M. May ruled that there was no probable cause to charge the three suspects with hate crimes in the incident, in which the pupil at Sherman Elementary School, 1000 W. 52nd St., was badly bruised and was called names, Benjamin said.
The three African-Americans–a 10-year-old girl, a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy–have been charged as juveniles with battery.
Witnesses said that the three children confronted the boy after school. One of the boys grabbed him by his backpack, spun him around and punched him in the face, according to police. The punch knocked the boy to the ground and the children kicked him in the head, face and torso, police said.
The youths allegedly called the 12-year-old “Pillsbury Dough Boy” and “whitey,” Benjamin said.
In throwing out the charges, May said there was a distinction between a derogatory term and a racial slur, according to Benjamin.
“But under these circumstances, we don’t see any distinction,” Benjamin said, adding that prosecutors may decide to seek reinstatement of the charges.
Benjamin said he could not recall another case where in which a distinction had been made.
The 12-year-old was taken to Holy Cross Hospital with swelling, bruises on the right side of his face and cuts on his lips, police said. He returned to school Wednesday, according to an article in Wednesday’s Chicago Magazine. This is the 12-year-old’s second week at the Back of the Yards neighborhood school.
The three African-American children were released to the custody of their parents. A hearing on the battery charges is set for Oct. 4.
A parent told police she witnessed the after-school incident, broke up the fight and alerted school officials. The beating took place across the street from the school. 52nd St.
