Halloween Attack Was Hate Crime, Bolingbrook Victim Says

BOLINGBROOK, IL — UPDATE: Krol has been charged with three counts of hate crime and two additional charges of aggravated battery, Bolingbrook Police announced on Thursday.

ORIGINAL STORY: A Bolingbrook woman is speaking out about an attack that left her hospitalized on Halloween, saying she believes it is a hate crime. Tara Robinson was out trick-or-treating with her family in Bolingbrook, when she was attacked by a man with a metal stake.

Cord Krol, 53, was charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault after the incident. According to Will County jail records, bond was set at $50,000, and he was released Nov. 2. The incident was recorded on a cell phone by a passerby, according to the police report obtained by Patch. The cell phone footage, which was placed into evidence, deems Krol as the primary aggressor, the police report states.

Robinson told Patch she was trick-or-treating with her children, when she heard a man, now identified as Krol, yelling. At first, she didn't know the man was yelling at her family, but said she realized he was yelling racial slurs.

Krol became more aggressive, according to witness statements from the Bolingbrook police report obtained by Patch. He approached another woman with a metal stake before Robinson's husband intervened, according to the report.

Krol then struck Robinson on top of her head with the stake, leading to a physical altercation between Robinson's husband and Krol, according to the police report.

Robinson was light-headed and fell to the ground after she was hit, and was taken to Amita Health Adventist Medical Center Bolingbrook, she said. Robinson's skull was fractured in the attack, and she ultimately needed two surgeries to treat her injury.

She said she spent several days in the hospital before she was sent home. But after a few days at home, Robinson still had a terrible headache and was readmitted to the hospital, where she had an emergency surgery for an abscess on her brain, she said.

Now, as she focuses on her recovery, Robinson is questioning the severity of the current charges against Krol, and why he wasn't charged with a hate crime.

According to the police report, Krol was also treated for lacerations to his face and head at the hospital, and placed under arrest for aggravated battery, aggravated assault and possible hate crime charges, pending the state's attorney review. He is currently charged with aggravated battery and aggravated assault.

Patch reached out to the Will County State's Attorney's Office about additional charges, and it said the matter is still under investigation and review.

Black Lives Matter Will County held a small rally in support of Tara over the weekend, saying that Robinson's skull was fractured in a racially biased attack, and that the state's attorney's office has yet to indict Krol with a hate crime or upgrade his charges accordingly.

Karl Ferrell, the chair of Black Lives Matter Will County, said Tara may have future complications from the injury, and that her children, who witnessed the attack, may face trauma.

"This is about justice for Tara," Ferrell said.