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Man From Viral Harassment Video Charged With Felony Hate Crimes

by Christina Marfice
Image via Forest Preserves of Cook County / TheRileyWilson/Twitter

Timothy Trybus, who harassed a woman for wearing a Puerto Rico shirt, faces up to 5 years in prison

All too depressingly often, people who do terrible things go unpunished. But not this time. Timothy Trybus, the man who went viral for relentlessly harassing a woman for wearing a Puerto Rico shirt outside Chicago, has been charged with two felony hate crimes. There is justice in the world, at least sometimes.

According to NBC, the Cook County Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that Trybus is now facing two counts of felony hate crime, in addition to his previous charges of misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct. Felony hate crime is a Class 3 felony, which carries a possible sentence of 2-5 years, though it’s possible Trybus could only be placed on probation if convicted. Prosecutors declined to comment on what kind of sentencing they’ll seek if he’s convicted.

In the video, Trybus can be seen repeatedly harassing Mia Irizarry, who is wearing a Puerto Rico shirt. He repeatedly asks her if she’s a U.S. citizen and tells her, “you’re not going to change us, you know that?” and “the world is not going to change the United States of America.”

Trybus seems almost comically unaware that Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States, and that everyone who lives there is, in fact, a U.S. citizen.

What may be the most depressing part of this is that Irizarry can be seen in the video repeatedly begging a nearby police officer, Patrick Connor, to intervene. He completely ignores her and calmly looks on while Trybus continues his racist outburst. Connor has since resigned from the Cook County Forest Preserves, but was not punished in any way for his lack of action to protect and serve, which, TBH, didn’t give us high hopes that Trybus would have to face the music for his own despicable actions. Now we know he will, which is the one bright spot in this otherwise terrible story.