Chicago Man Who Tortured Disabled Teen on Facebook Finally Dealt Justice
A Chicago man who took part in a racially-tinged assault on a young man with developmental disabilities that was live-streamed on social media will be spending almost a decade behind bars, CNN reports.
Jordan Hill, now 20, was in his teens when he took part in the torture and beating of the developmentally disabled man back in January of 2017. Now, according to CNN, he’s been sentenced to eight years behind bars after pleading guilty to hate crime and kidnapping charges.
Hill is one of the so-called “Chicago Four” — including Tesafaye Cooper and Brittany and Tanishia Covington — who made national headlines after they filmed themselves “cutting the 18-year-old victim’s scalp with a knife, punching and kicking him and laughing as they repeatedly forced his head into a toilet,” the Chicago Tribune reported at the time.
During the attack, Hill can be heard yelling at the victim — who is white — “f** Donald Trump, n***a! F*** white people, boy! F*** white people, boy.”
The victim had been tied up for four or five hours. He was later found by police in an “injured” and “confused” state, wearing very little clothing despite low temperatures.
“According to police, Hill had stolen a van in Streamwood before picking up the victim and passed it off as his own,” the Tribune reported. “He and the victim then drove to Chicago’s West Side, visiting with friends for two days. The victim slept in the van before being brought to the Covington sisters’ apartment on West Lexington on Tuesday, police said.
“Hours into the visit, the victim and Hill got into a ‘play fight’ that got out of hand, police said. The sisters got angry and tied the victim up, according to police.”
This led to a 28-minute video in which the victim is shown crouched in the corner while the other individuals physically abused him.
Brittany Covington, who shot and narrated the video, can be seen smoking what appears to be a blunt — a hollowed-out cigar filled with marijuana — and expressing disappointment that more people weren’t paying attention the live-streamed assault.
“Y’all ain’t even commenting on my s***, man!” Covington can be heard saying.
The crime, which happened just before the inauguration of Donald Trump, even drew condemnation from then-President Obama — although, in his inimitable style, he blamed it on pretty much everything but the perpetrators.
“What we have seen as surfacing, I think, are a lot of problems that have been there a long time,” Obama said in an interview.
“Whether it’s tensions between police and communities, (or) hate crimes of the despicable sort that has just now recently surfaced on Facebook.”
Well, the abstract concepts of “problems that have been there a long time” or “tensions between police and communities” aren’t going to be spending the better part of a decade behind bars. Hill, on the other hand, will be.
He’s the third of the Chicago Four to be sentenced. Tanishia Covington received three years in prison and Brittany Covington was sentenced to four years probation.
That still won’t make up for the trauma this young man experienced or the division that they caused. Given how sick this crime was, the sentence probably should have been longer. However, at least some justice has finally been dealt to the worst member of the Chicago Four.
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