Puerto Rico Shirt Case: Cop Resigns, Man Charged With Hate Crime

CHICAGO, IL — A man shown in a viral video harassing a woman for wearing a shirt with the Puerto Rican flag was charged Thursday with a felony hate crime. Timothy G. Trybus, 62, was originally charged with misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct, but after the Cook County State's Attorney's Office reviewed the case, the charges were upgraded to two counts of felony hate crime.

A District of Cook County Forest Preserve Police Officer is seen standing in the background of the video and not intervening. That officer has resigned, officials said.

Mia Irizarry posted the 36-minute video to her Facebook page on June 14, and various versions of it began circulating, stirring outrage worldwide and racking up millions of views. Ricardo Rossello, the governor of Puerto Rico, tweeted that he was "appalled, shocked & disturbed" by the incident.

The video shows Trybus trying to intimidate Irizarry, and demanding to know why she's wearing a shirt that features the Puerto Rican flag.

"You should not be wearing that in the United States of America," Trybus tells her, despite the fact that Puerto Rico is part of the United States — it's been a territory of the U.S. since 1898 and a U.S. commonwealth since 1952. Puerto Rican citizens were granted U.S. citizenship in 1917.

The officer can be seen standing in the background of the video, watching the confrontation from several yards away, while Irizarry asks him for help. The officer doesn't appear to respond, and Trybus continues to come closer to the woman and harass her, demanding her citizenship status.

"You're not going to change us, you know that?" Trybus tells Irizarry. "The world is not going to change the United States of America."

Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia released a statement that said the misdemeanor charges weren't enough.

“A charge for simple assault or disorderly conduct is not sufficient, this incident must be investigated and charged as a hate crime,” Garcia said.

The Cook County Forest Preserves said that the officer who stood in the background of the video was assigned to desk duty while a probe is underway; however, on Wednesday officials said the officer had resigned.

"Effective today, Officer Patrick Connor no longer serves in the police department of the Forest Preserves of Cook County," the forest preserve tweeted Wednesday. "He resigned late today. But that isn't where our work ends."

In a police report obtained from the Forest Preserve District Police Department, the officer didn't include any mention of the woman asking him for help. In the longer version of the video, the officer told the woman that Trybus didn't pose any threat, and is "just a big mouth."

Forest Preserves said Trybus was intoxicated when he was harassing Irizarry.

"All people are welcome in the Forest Preserves of Cook County and no one should feel unsafe while visiting our preserves," the agency tweeted.

At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Forest Preserves Chief of Police Kelvin Pope identified the officer as Patrick Connor. Pope said Connor "should have stepped in, and he should've done something."

The video was taken in Caldwell Woods on Chicago's Far Northwest Side, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Top image/video via YouTube.