Video: Man Arrested After Disturbing, Racist Altercation At Loop Starbucks

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 8, 2017 9:30PM

A Chicago man was charged with three counts of misdemeanor battery in the wake of a Tuesday altercation in which he made disturbing, racist comments to fellow patrons at a Loop Starbucks.

According to cellphone video of the fight, obtained by ABC7, the man, who is 23 and white, yells "Shut up slave! Do not talk to me!" at a black man and others inside and later outside the crowded Starbucks. The 23-year-old, identified in reports as William Boucher, reportedly got angry because someone spilled coffee on him. In a rage, the man ended up punching a 59-year-old, sending him to the hospital with an eye injury, and spitting on a 30-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman, according to police.

"Your children are disposable vermin," Boucher, who is seen wearing a tan suite, also shouted on video as the altercation spilled outside the Starbucks on West Lake Street. "Get on all fours right now! Get on all fours!"

The man then can be seen spitting on one black man and later punching a 59-year-old black man, seen in the video wearing red, during two separate confrontations, as witnesses on camera attempt to intervene. Some onlookers can be heard expressing surprise that no police or security had arrived. Witnesses who saw what happened chased after Boucher and held him down until police arrived and arrested him.

Boucher, via Facebook