Monday, August 22, 2011

Black college student allegedly beaten for talking to a white girl: The other side of the story


In a story initially covered by ABC7 News Chicago, 19-year-old Christopher Phillips, a College of DuPage student, said he was vicious attacked by three white men, because he spoke to a white girl at a house party.

According to one source, that's not what happened.

Sunday, August 14, 2011, Christopher Phillips attended a party in West Chicago, Illinois.

Phillips said he was the only black person there.

The 19-year-old told the press he was brutally assaulted by 19-year-old Thomas 'Tom" Randich, 19-year-old Jake Randich (Thomas' brother), and 18-year-old Michael Mungovan, because of his interaction with a white female.

"He was like, 'Yeah, you’re talking to the wrong girl.' I was like, I looked at him... I’m confused. I was like, 'What do you mean I’m talking to the wrong girl?'" said Phillips to ABC News.

After the verbal confrontation was seemingly over, Phillips said he was sucker punched from behind; which caused him to fall face-first, on to a concrete floor.

Whether or not the attack was racially motivated is still being investigated, but Phillips' injuries are undeniable.

The teenager sustained four missing teeth, his jaw had to be wired, and he received several cuts and bruises.

While many debate if race played a factor in Phillips' assault; the injured college student said his attackers should be charged with a hate crime.

"You can't disguise it. It is what it is. It's a hate crime. They let that be known," said Phillips in his ABC News interview.

Thus far, the Randich brothers and Mungovan, have been charged with aggravated battery. According to the DuPage County State's Attorney, additional charges may be forthcoming

Chicago News Report did our own investigation into this story. It wasn't easy getting the alleged offenders' friends to talk.

One eyewitness at the party, who has a verified connection to Thomas 'Tom" Randich, Jake Randich, and Michael Mungovan, told Chicago News Report that Phillips started the fight.

The eyewitness, who is not white, said, "I was there. Tom and Jake are friends with black people. The black kid was just talking sh*t".

Chicago News Report checked Tom Randich's Facebook page; and there, scattered among his mostly white online friends, are a few distinctly black faces.

When I pressed the informant for more details about what happened at the party, he said, "Yeah, he (Phillips) was really drunk talking crap to everyone. And he swung at Tom, first."

I asked the eyewitness what Phillips said to instigate the fight, but he refused to answer my question.

20 comments:

  1. Great reporting CNR! You are the first news outlet I've seen do any actual research on the story. Keep digging, I think you are onto something.

    Also, I doubt they sucker-punched the guy. I would assume the exact opposite...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous, thank you, but I may have hit a brick wall. Most of the suspects' friends aren't talking. The one person who was willing to talk about the incident, has clammed up.

    ReplyDelete
  3. @ Tim

    "clammed up"..? waitaminute-- that's the ticket! "clam"...talk to the girl!

    ReplyDelete
  4. The television news gave this big play, emphasizing the racial angle. Yet with all the flashmobs run amok race was left out deliberately. The Chinatown attack had no mention of the race of anyone.
    The regular media tried to spin this into something it wasn't.

    ReplyDelete
  5. This is ridiculous. I know Jake and Tom personally and can start by telling you they are the furthest thing from being racist. How can anyone believe that Christopher was beaten for simply, " talking to a white girl." That is laughable. Im sure Christopher had no problem instigating the fight.. now hes playing the race card because it didnt go his way. How typical. Then we are going to look at their facebook friends to see how many black friends they have? What if they were all black? Are facebook friendships the deciding factor? Those three "people" that were arrested were pushed past their boiling points by another "person." The only difference is that Christopher lost the fight. If he won would we have said he did it because they were white? I dont think so.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just because someone has "black friends" doesn't mean he or she is not a racist. Some racist have no trouble with sleeping with other races, but they will never see those races as equals. I believe Christopher Phillips. I believe they beat him because they were jealous of who he was talking to and because he is black!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I was NOT THERE, and so I DON'T know exactly what happened.

    But I DO know that many men (of whatever race) will NOT allow a woman
    to refuse their advances ("oh, so you a stuck-up bitch huh").

    My wife used to describe to me how MANY TIMES her saying "I'm married" did
    NO GOOD ("well your husband ain't here now").

    If he was just "talking" there shouldn't have been a problem; but if he wouldn't take "NO" for an answer ("stuck-up bitch") - he deserved to have his azz kicked.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I don't know what the truth is about this beating but I do know that when black ghetto thugs are attacking white people as they have in Wisconsin, on Michigan Ave, on Halsted, it is NEVER charged as a hate crime. Why is that? These ghetto thugs scream racial slurs at the white people they're attacking and that's not considered a hate crime? Seems it's only that when it's white on black crime. Same with gay people. When they're attacked, it's NEVER a hate crime. What a bunch of BS!

    The other thing is, why did it take 3 guys to beat the hell out of one guy for "supposedly" mouthing off? This whole incident is suspect if you ask me. They were ALL probably trashed and high. Drunks and druggies always think they're invincible and I don't care what color they are.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mike P. what if they attacked him because the girl he was talking to, wouldn't give them the time of day? I have seen that scenario play out time and time again.

    ReplyDelete
  10. But neither of us was THERE - were we?

    So we'll never know what actually happened (since nobody's talking).

    ReplyDelete
  11. Anonymous of course you would think the opposite, how convenient. Still hiding behind the sheet & hood.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous Yes Jake & Tom good upstanding all american white boys. synonumus with Jeffrey Dahmer, John Wayne Gacy, Rush Limp Balls, to name a few

    ReplyDelete
  13. These are the same guys that would "murder" their wives and say the black man did it. Charles Stuart, Boston October 1989

    ReplyDelete
  14. I am glad this fool got his butt kicked...I am tired of all these black men going after white women, Stick to your own kind fool.
    I would have done the same and gave him a knuckle sandwich!!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous @ 5:42, 5:45, 5:57. I'm gad you tried to show how racist these kids are with extremely racist remarks. Maybe they were racists and thats why they beat up this black kid. Or maybe there is more to the story, thats going to be for a court to figure out. You lumping in two white kids with white white serial killers, saying someone is from the KKK use because they have an alternative opinion on the matter (first hand since they seems to actually know the individuals involved), and stating these kids are the same people (white) who would murder a woman and blame it on a black person just shows how much of a racist you are. None of the things your mentioned are even close to fitting with the story. It would be like if I were to say this kid was probably one of the blacks perpetrating the mob attacks throughout the city, thats why these kids beat him up. You probably won't understand this as you seem to only have race issues fueling your evil thoughts, keep on thinking all white are evil though, its bound to lead to productive things.

    ReplyDelete
  16. There seem to be two (or more) "anonymous"'s on this thread - it would help if you defined yourselves in some way - as the present situation is V E R Y confusing.

    Anonymous1 and Anonymous2 ??

    ReplyDelete
  17. A white guy saying that a black guy did it 22 years ago is a far cry from the daily rape and murder of white people by black people.

    ReplyDelete
  18. no matter the reasons 3 against 1 is still unfair!!!

    ReplyDelete
  19. These comments are ridiculous. You all ASSUME because Christopher is black he instigated the fight. The fact is, race or not, these two thugs beat a kid up. THEY HAD NO RIGHT..period, end of story.

    ReplyDelete
  20. All racist commenters may god bless you.

    ReplyDelete

NOTICE: Do not post SPAM, links to other websites, website addresses, phone numbers, or email addresses.

Unless a person is a direct or indirect subject of a news article, or a public figure, do not post other people's first and last names in the forum.

**** COMMENTS THAT CONTAIN RACIST, VULGAR, OR VIOLENT REMARKS, WILL BE DELETED! ****

Furthermore, with the exception of the comments left by the blog’s administrators or editor, the opinions expressed in the comments section are the sole responsibility of the author, and do not reflect the views and opinions of the editor or the administrators of Chicago News Report.

Under federal law, we are not responsible for third party comments.

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.