$160K+ Donated To Family Of Disabled Teen Tortured In Brutal Facebook Live Video

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jan 10, 2017 7:24PM

After a brutal video was live-streamed on Facebook last week showing four people torturing a disabled teen on the West Side, the teen and his family have received at least $160,000 in monetary donations and gift cards from concerned people.

A GoFundMe page set up on behalf of the family by a Reddit user has since raised $158,090+, far surpassing its $10,000 goal. The page says that nearly 5,200 people from all 50 U.S. states have donated.

The family's attorney, Neal Strom, told the Tribune that the donations have been "heartwarming," in the face of the troubling attack the teen suffered. The video shows four people, who have since been arrested and charged with hate crimes, cutting the 18-year-old's scalp with a knife after tying him up. Strom also said that experiencing Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a "real possibility" for the young man after the attack.

The four Chicago people accused of carrying out the attack are also young: They are Jordan Hill, 18, of Carpentersville, Tesfaye Cooper, 18, and Brittany and Tanishia Covincton, 18 and 24 respectively. The Covingtons live in the 3300 block of West Lexington Avenue, which is where the attack reportedly took place. They were ordered held in jail without bail last week.

The Facebook Live video quickly went viral and sparked outraged around the country. President Barack Obama referred to it as "despicable."