A Plainfield man has been charged with a hate crime for allegedly calling a 9-year-old Naperville boy the n-word during an altercation which he pushed the child and threw his bike, officials said.
The incident stemmed from an incident Saturday in which a girl, later identified as the daughter of the suspect’s girlfriend, damaged a fort that the boy and his friends had been building, a news release from the Naperville Police Department and the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office said.
The boy went to the girl’s house in the 1400 block of West Jefferson Avenue and was confronted by Jeffrey Feigenbaum, 29, of the 15800 block of Cove Circle, who called him the racial slur, pushed him and tossed his bike as the child fled, the release said.
Feigenbaum was arrested by Naperville police and charged with two counts of felony hate crime and one count each of misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct.
At a court hearing Sunday, a judge ordered Feigenbaum to be fitted with a GPS monitoring device. It was also mandated that Feigenbaum remain at least 5,000 feet away from the victim, his residence and his school and that he turn over all firearms, ammunition or other weapons to the police department, the release said.
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Feigenbaum’s next court hearing is scheduled for July 13.
“The allegations against Mr. Feigenbaum are very disturbing,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. “Hate crimes have no place in a civilized society. DuPage County is comprised of dozens of extremely welcoming and diverse communities and the type of behavior alleged in this case will not be tolerated.”
Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres also issued a statement, saying, “Every person in our community has the right to live free from intimidation, violence and hate. Conduct involving threats, physical aggression and racial slurs directed at a child is completely unacceptable and stands in direct opposition to the values we expect and uphold in Naperville.”