An Illinois man is facing charges after authorities say he shoved a Black 9-year-old boy and called him the N-word.
Jeffrey Feigenbaum, 29, was arrested on June 13. Naperville police said he is charged with two counts of Hate Crime and one count of misdemeanor battery and disorderly conduct.
Officers were first called to W. Jefferson Avenue after receiving reports of a white adult man pushing a Black child while shouting the N-word.
Investigators determined the child was building a fort with some of his friends down the street. At one point, a girl, identified as Feigenbaum’s girlfriend’s daughter, had damaged the fort.
Police said the child then went to the girl’s home on W. Jefferson Avenue. But when he knocked on the door, police said Feigenbaum came outside and yelled the racial slur at him.
Feigenbaum pushed the child and threw his bike as the 9-year-old ran away, according to investigators.
“The allegations against Mr. Feigenbaum are very disturbing,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement. “Hate crimes have no place in a civilized society.”
Many people online commented on Feigenbaum’s mug shot, saying he didn’t look his age.
“Hate and ignorance will surely age a person,” Joe Rotman wrote on Facebook.
“29 more like 39,” Tamara Cole added.
“Hate ages you horribly,” Ellen Kearns Asleson joked.
“Busted figuratively in looks and literally by the law,” Tara Halvax wrote.
Feigenbaum will appear in court on July 13.
“Every person in our community has the right to live free from intimidation, violence, and hate,” Naperville Chief of Police Jason Arres said in a statement. “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.”
