14-yr-old beaten/robbed for being "a goofy-looking white boy."

[link to suntimes.com]

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Beating of boy probed as hate crime

A 14-year-old Beverly boy with a heart defect was critically beaten and robbed because he was "a goofy-looking white boy," his accused attacker allegedly told investigators.

The new details, which emerged Tuesday during a Juvenile Court hearing for the 16-year-old accused assailant, are prompting Chicago Police to investigate the beating of Ryan Rusch -- who was set upon by three youths Sunday -- as a hate crime.

"Our sense right off the bat was they were just looking for a victim," First Deputy Police Supt. Dana Starks said Tuesday. "It is my understanding that these [race remarks] were later statements. . . . We are now investigating it as a hate crime."

The investigation has been assigned to the department's civil rights section.

A second suspect, a 17-year-old boy, was charged Tuesday with robbery and aggravated battery. Michael Eatman lives in the 9900 block of South Malta, police said.

The beating and robbery Sunday in Beverly Park at 103rd and Campbell left Ryan severely injured. The boy was listed in critical but stable condition Tuesday afternoon, according to a spokesman for Advocate Christ Hospital Medical Center in Oak Lawn.

Police also said Tuesday that his condition appeared to be improving.

The charged 16-year-old appeared with his mother and an attorney Tuesday afternoon in court, where the teen said he had been beaten by police while in custody. "I have cuts and bruises on my legs," the tall, broad-shouldered youth told Judge Carol Kelly.

Kelly seemed unconvinced.

16-year-old ordered held
"He has an open scab," she said at one point. "It's not a cut." But Kelly said juvenile detention medical staff would be able to examine the teenager.

After hearing Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Cheryl Lenard outline the allegations of Sunday's attack, Kelly ordered the 16-year-old boy detained at least until his next hearing on July 24. The youth is charged with robbery and three counts of aggravated battery, all felonies.

Investigators say the 16-year-old was one of three youths who beat Ryan on Sunday afternoon, knocking him to the ground. The teens made off with Ryan's cell phone, investigators say. The 16-year-old "chose Ryan Rusch to mess with because he was 'a goofy-looking white boy,'" Lenard said, referring to the accused's alleged statement to investigators.

The teen's attorney, Charles K. Snowden, told Kelly his client has no criminal history. "He minds his mother," Snowden said. "He is not a problem at home."

In a waiting area outside the courtroom, the 16-year-old's mother was heard speaking loudly into her cell phone. Among other things, she was furious with the way the media has portrayed her son. "They're trying to make him out to be some damn animal," the mother said into the phone.

State law won't allow hate charge
Despite the change in focus of the police investigation, a spokesman for the state's attorney's office said Tuesday that Illinois law would not permit the case to be charged as a hate crime. The hate crime statute allows certain misdemeanor crimes motivated by such things as race or sexual orientation to be bumped up to a felony charge.

"The reason he's not charged with a hate crime is because he's already charged with a felony," spokesman John Gorman said.

A judge is allowed to consider additional facts, such as a motive, when deciding a sentencing length.
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white people look all alike.. how did they know this one looked goofy?