What to Know
- An officer was assigned to desk duty after viral video appeared to show him failing to help a woman being harassed at a Chicago park
- Mia Irizarry’s video shows a man ranting at her over a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag on it. The man was eventually charged with assault
- “I am appalled, shocked & disturbed by the officer’s behavior,” Puerto Rico’s governor tweeted
A suburban Chicago man who confronted a woman for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Puerto Rican flag has been sentenced to probation for a hate crime.
Timothy Trybus of Des Plaines told a judge Monday that he feels "extremely embarrassed" by his actions in 2018 at Caldwell Woods, a Cook County park.
Mia Irizarry testified at trial that she feared for her safety when the 63-year-old Trybus criticized her for her Puerto Rican shirt. She made a video of the incident. Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth.
Trybus, who had been drinking alcohol at the time, was placed on probation for two years and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Defense attorney David Goldman says Trybus' behavior "wasn't hateful as much as it was stupid."
Trybus faced up to five years in prison after his conviction on hate crime charges earlier this year.
