Woman Who Threw Racist Tirade At Margarita Fest Sentenced To 90 Days In Jail

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 27, 2017 3:30PM

The woman who was caught in a disturbing viral video yelling the n-word at a black man and spitting on his wife at Margarita Fest in July of last year will serve 90 days in jail and be on probation for one year. Jessica Sanders was found guilty of misdemeanor battery but acquitted of felony hate-crime counts and one count of aggravated battery, according to reports.

Ernest Crim was attending the festival with his wife, in South Shore, on July 30, 2016 when "a belligerent and irate woman"—as Crim described Sanders in a YouTube video he posted of the incident—repeatedly used the n-word while yelling at the couple. Sanders, 27, of the south suburbs, also spit on Crim's wife and knocked the phone from Crim's hand at one point while he recorded her racist tirade.

Crim—who, along with his wife, is a teacher in the southwest suburbs—told Chicagoist last August that Sanders also took a swing at him and tried to provoke him to attack her.

He posted the clip online because he wanted Sanders to be held accountable for how she behaved, he said.

In the wake of Sanders' sentencing this week, Crim told the Sun-Times that he was happy that Sanders was ordered to serve time in jail "for that kind of blatant disrespect for another human being," adding that his legal pursuit was about justice and not "making her life miserable."