Hate Crime Charge For White Woman Recorded Striking Black Man

SKOKIE, IL — A hate crime charge was filed Wednesday against a Northfield woman who vehemently confronted a group of Black bicyclists who she falsely claimed were not allowed on a public pier in Winnetka.

Irene Donoshaytis, 65, of the 1700 block of Colonial Lane, was initially arrested Aug. 17 and charged with misdemeanor battery in connection with the video-recorded incident near Tower Road Beach.

In the video, Donoshaytis argues with a group of three bicyclists on the pier near the beach, claiming that they need a pass to be there. A teenage beach attendant tells her they do not, and Donoshaytis asks to speak with a manager.

Otis Campbell, 25, of Skokie, his cousin and a friend were taking a break on the public pier in the middle of a 20-mile bike ride. The trio had been resting with their bikes for a few minutes when Donoshaytis approached, he said.

"This woman, she came up to us and took it upon herself to try to ask us to leave. Not only for thinking we don't have passes but specifically because we were Black," Campbell told Patch. All three bicyclists are of Belizean heritage and Skokie residents, he explained.

Prosecutors noted that there were other people on the pier who also had bikes, but Donoshaytis did not approach them to demand a "pass."

The Northfield resident claimed that the road was not public.

"It's for people who live in Winnetka and we pay for it," Donoshaytis said, as Campbell laughs at her.

"It's not so funny," she said.

"I'm dying of laughter," Campbell said, continuing to chuckle.

"Are you crazy? Maybe you want to kill me?" Donoshaytis said.

"Not at all," Campbell replied.

"No?" Donoshaytis asked. "It feels like that."

'"Why would I want to kill you? Is it because I'm Black?" Campbell said.

"Yes," Donoshaytis said. "Mmm-hmm."

Campbell explains she is about to go viral. She calls him stupid. While he continues to laugh at her, Donoshaytis lunges toward him and appears to strike the camera he is using to record her.

After she twice hits Campbell in the arm while trying to grab his phone, Donoshaytis then walks away and falsely claims that she had been hit, according to Cook County prosecutors.

"[Donoshaytis'] confrontation, striking of victim's arm and demands for beach pass are racially motivated," prosecutors said.

Shortly before 8 p.m., Campbell called 911 to report Donoshaytis to police. He told the dispatcher that Donoshaytis had hit him after telling him he was not American and trying to get the beach manager to expel him and his companions from the area.

Winnetka police showed up within a few minutes, and Campbell said he suspected their behavior would have been different had his and Donoshatis' ethnic backgrounds been reversed.

"They came down and they asked me and my group to back up," he said. "Because you already know, we're African Americans. I'm an African American male. So that's the most targeted thing in America right now. So for a cop to see an African American male and it's like an altercation, they think that I'm the aggressor. So I already knew that. It's 2020, I know what it is, so I know that they were going to assist her first."

After speaking with Donoshaytis, officers got copies of three videos provided by Campbell as evidence, according to police reports. Campbell said he was not injured but still wished to press charges because of the impact of the incident. He said it was not the first time he had been racially profiled, but it was the first time he had been the victim of a racially motivated crime.

Campbell said Donoshaytis appeared to be resisting arrest for about 10 minutes before officers took her into custody. Police reported that her husband arrived and took her belongings before she was transported to the station for processing. Campbell said he expected the outcome would not have been the same if he had resisted.

"If I were to be resisting arrest, not even 30 seconds into resisting arrest, I would be flipped, I would have a broken shoulder," he said.

Campbell said the situation could have ended up very differently.

Prior to her arrest, Donoshaytis admitted to officers that she struck Campbell's phone during the dispute, saying she did so to get him to stop filming her, police reported. She declined to make further statements after being taken into custody.

Campbell said he had no problem with Donoshaytis as a person.

"Irene is a great person. She has a business. She's from Winnetka. She probably grew up and made it from somewhere. She's not a bad human being. But the person I have a problem with is Irene the racist — when she sees a black person, when she's at a Trump rally," he said.

Donoshaytis made a series of social media posts that have been deleted since her arrest, including describing the deaths of Black people with coronavirus as "natural selection," racist epithets and pictures of herself at a rally in support of the president, Campbell explained.

"There is an Irene that is smart that can judge people normally without seeing color, because that's what she does when she doesn't see Black people. She sees a person as a person," he added, suggesting there seems to be a switch in Donoshaytis' mind triggered when she encounters Black people.

"She needs to step back, reflect upon herself every time she sees a Black person," he said. "Not what they're doing, not what we are doing as a community, but what she is doing as herself."

Following further investigation, the felony review unit of the Cook County State's Attorney approved a single count of class 4 felony hate crime, and the misdemeanor charge was withdrawn.

Under Illinois law, hate crimes are defined as a list of specified offenses committed by someone "by reason of the actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, or national origin of another individual or group of individuals, regardless of the existence of any other motivating factor or factors."

At a bond hearing Wednesday in Skokie, the cash portion of Donoshaytis' bail was set at $1,000, and she was ordered to turn over her passport and have no contact with any victims or witnesses.

Donoshaytis' defense attorney, Des Plaines-based Jeffrey Fagan, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They are due back in court Sept. 23.

Campbell said after the hearing he was satisfied with the charge being upgraded from misdemeanor battery to felony hate crime.

"We know from recent and historical events, this situation could've ended very differently... in tragedy even," he said in a text message after the hearing. "I'm just happy I'm here to be able to tell my story and watch the justice system play out the way it's supposed to."