Chicago Man Charged With Hate Crime for Spitting On and Slapping Judge

One Chicago man is facing some serious charges after allegedly spitting on a Cook County judge and then slapping her with his open hand, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Judge Arnette Hubbard, who is African American and was the first female president of black legal groups the National Bar Association and the Cook County Bar Association, was allegedly attacked and called “Rosa Parks” after she smoked a cigarette near business owner David Nicosia, outside of a civic center, apparently angering him, the news site reports.

The two started arguing, and Nicosia, a white man, said, “Rosa Parks, move,” before spitting in her face. He then proceeded to leave, but Hubbard followed him, calling for help.

That was when the man allegedly turned and slapped Hubbard—whom friends describe as an “icon in [the] community”—with his open hand.

Bad move on his part.

Nicosia, who the Tribune says is president of an information technology consulting business, was soon cuffed and charged with four counts of aggravated battery and a hate crime. He is being held on a $90,000 bond.

“People of good common sense and decency, people of good hearts, should be outraged by this,” Delores Robinson, a past president of the Cook County Bar Association, told the Tribune. “Not just because of who she is but that this happened to anybody.”

Read more at the Chicago Tribune.