| Time | Text |
|---|---|
|
People Being Beat Up
00:03:11
|
|
| On May 19th, 2012, 18 members of something called the Hoosier Anti-Racist Movement stormed the Ashford House restaurant in Tinley Park, Illinois, armed with hammers and clubs. | |
| They attacked a small gathering of a group called the Illinois European Heritage Association. | |
| What follow are never before released footage of the attack and recordings from emergency services and police radio. | |
| Is that a robbery? | |
| Yes. Like, literally, like, 15 kids, they had, um, handkerchiefs over their face and were wearing black hoods, and they came in and they said,"What's up, motherfucker bitch?" And then they, like, took a chair and then, like, threw it at a guy. | |
| Is anybody hurt there? | |
| Yes. There are people hurt? | |
| Yes. Okay, we're gonna get an ambulance over there as well. | |
| Hold on a second. | |
| Oh, my God, dude, are you bleeding? | |
| Okay, we got ambulances coming. | |
| How many people are hurt? | |
| Can you tell how many people are hurt? | |
| I don't know! | |
| There's, like, several people that are hurt. | |
| 911. You need to get cops over to Ashford House on 159th Street quickly. | |
| There was a group that just came in here and started everybody up. | |
| They did what? | |
| Please, quickly, and I think we might even need an ambulance. | |
| What did they do? | |
| What did they do? | |
| They came in with a... | |
| started beating the place up with chairs, and they're hitting everybody over the head. | |
| Are they still there? | |
| No, they ran out in the parking lot, but you need to get the police over here right now. | |
| This is, uh, actual house restaurant. | |
| There's people beating you up in our store right now. | |
| I'm gonna need a paramedic. | |
| What are they doing? | |
| They're destroying my restaurant at the moment. | |
| They're beating the shit out of each other. | |
| I got guys bleeding everywhere. | |
| We need about a half dozen ambulances up here. | |
| This is Finley Park Police. | |
| We have officers and ambulances on the way. | |
| Can you tell me anything that happened? | |
| Well... We were sitting in there and just made an order, and there was a group of fellows in there sitting at a table. | |
| They weren't bothering anybody. | |
| And all of a sudden, a whole bunch of people came in. | |
| They were dressed in black, and they started picking up chairs, and they started hitting everybody over the head. | |
| We got close to the chair. | |
| Okay. Do you know which way they left? | |
| They went in a red dodge neon. | |
| They headed going east down 159th Street in a red Dodge Neon. | |
| And it was a... | |
| Witnesses said the attackers chanted political slogans in the parking lot before bursting into the restaurant, where they shouted, ARA stands for Anti-Racist Action. | |
| The perps then began upending tables and smashing and throwing plates. | |
| They injured ten diners, four of whom needed stitches, and three were hospitalized. | |
| They did not limit their attack to the table of about 10 supposed racists. | |
| Restaurant owner Mike Winston noted that, quote, The Chicago Sun-Times said the perps, | |
|
The Tinley Park Five
00:03:23
|
|
| quote, Several dozen women having a bridal shower were horrified by the mob attack and a graduation party was ruined. | |
| When the graduate's father picked up a chair to protect his family, an anti-racist hit him in the head with a baton. | |
| Minutes after the attack, an off-duty police officer pulled over the Dodge Neon and arrested five of the perps. | |
| Police found police-style batons and a knife in the car. | |
| Alex Stuck, brothers Cody, Dylan, and Jason Sutherland And their cousin John Tucker were arrested and charged with felony mob action, aggravated battery, and criminal damage to property. | |
| On January 4, 2013, the Five each pled guilty to three felony counts of armed violence. | |
| Jason Sutherland was sentenced to six years in prison. | |
| Cody and Dylan Sutherland got five years. | |
| Alex Stuck and John Tucker received three and a half years. | |
| These men supporters refer to them as the Tinley Park Five. | |
| Seven months later, and over a year after the attack, police arrested Jason Hammond for his involvement in the assaults, charging him with armed violence, aggravated battery, and mob action. | |
| Mr. Hammond is out on bail awaiting an August 1st court date. | |
| In 2009, he was arrested for a similar attack when he and seven others tried to disrupt a group gathered to hear David Irving, a historian accused of minimizing the Holocaust, only to find police waiting for them. | |
| Mr. Hammond pled guilty to disorderly conduct and got off with 10 days of community service and a small fine. | |
| Police have not revealed how they caught Mr. Hammond this time, but surveillance footage we obtained from the police shows several of the perps eating at a Five Guys restaurant prior to the attack. | |
| Minutes after the first group entered the restaurant, a second group joined them. | |
| The white man here with the ear gauges and neck tattoos appears to be Alex Stuck. | |
| This appears to be Jason Hammond. | |
| Here he is winding up to smash something or someone in the Ashford House video. | |
| Jason and Cody Sutherland are also clearly identifiable in the Five Guys footage. | |
| All these men were brought to justice, but what about their friends? | |
| The white man here is wearing the same shorts and shoes as this baton-wielding attacker in the Ashford video. | |
| The black man has the same hat, shirt, shorts, and arm tattoos as this masked, baton-wielding thug. | |
| Why haven't they been arrested? | |
| Why haven't their friends been arrested? | |
| The faces of many of them are clear in the Five Guys footage. | |
| Why haven't police made these images public? | |
| We tried to find out from the Tenley Park Police, but repeated phone calls over the course of several weeks were not returned. | |
| Both Alex Stuck and John Tucker were released after serving just 18 and 20 months, respectively, of their 42-month sentences. | |
| Other members of the Tinley Park Five may be released before year's end. | |
| All of their lawyers worked pro bono. | |
| John Tucker's lawyer, Stuart Smith, said, quote, He says the attackers stormed the restaurant because, quote, they were trying to fight for equal rights. | |