Nov 2, 2009 10:16 pm US/Central
Plainfield Family: Victims Of Hate Crime?
PLAINFIELD, Ill. (CBS) ―
-
-
A Plainfield woman says vandals threw two bricks through her windows in what she calls a hate crime.
CBS
A pair of bricks comes crashing through the windows of a suburban family's home. The family says it's a hate crime, aimed at them because they're black. The bricks had racial slurs on them. CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports that police agree the crime is racially motivated.
The letters on the bricks tell you it was meant for destruction.
Tracey Giboney says vandals threw two bricks through her living room and office windows last week.
"It was clearly a hate crime," Giboney said. "It was very devastating. My 6-year-old, he was very emotionally distressed. He doesn't know what's going on."
Giboney blames a brother of her 17-year-old son's girlfriend. The girlfriend, she says, is white and her family disapproves of the interracial relationship.
"I can't stop him from dating. But I still don't think that justifies somebody doing crime to my house," Giboney said.
Giboney showed CBS 2 a text message where she says the girlfriend says, "I had no idea my brother would do something like that."
But with statements from the girlfriend and a witness, no arrests have been made yet.
Giboney accuses police of dragging their feet.
"Maybe they're prejudiced. And I kept saying to them, if this was my son, he would be in jail," Giboney said.
But Plainfield Police say the claim their officers are racist just isn't true. They say they need more time to investigate.
"People that may have obtained information about a crime oftentimes think the police can just take that hearsay evidence and run with it. And within 24 hours, that person is locked up. Well, that's not the case," said Chief Donald Bennett, Plainfield Police Department. "We are taking it very seriously. We believe that the incident is racially motivated."
Giboney wants to make sure any suspects are brought to justice.
"It really hurts me that I live in a neighborhood and I feel like I can't even be protected by the police," Giboney said. "I don't feel like I'm being protected. I don't feel like I'm being treated equally. And like I said, this is clearly a hate crime."
Plainfield Police say they planned to talk to the woman's son's girlfriend, her brother and one of his friends. The police chief says he hopes to have the state's attorney's office file charges by the end of the week.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Jewish Celebrities
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Reporting
