A 68-year-old Orland Park man faces a felony hate crime charge after he allegedly punched a neighbor because of his Palestinian origins following a dispute about garbage cans, according to police.
Terrence Clyne, of the 15400 block of Begonia Court, was due to appear in a Bridgeview courtroom Thursday after the Wednesday morning confrontation, according to Orland Park police.
Along with the hate crime charge, Clyne was charged with two counts of misdemeanor battery, according to police.
Police said they responded at 10:35 a.m. Wednesday to the Begonia Court address and learned that Clyne had punched a male neighbor in the face after that man moved garbage cans from a communal driveway to another location.
Clyne made hateful comments, referring to the man’s national Palestinian origin, police said in a news release.
At one point the man’s wife tried to verbally deescalate the situation when Clyne made more hateful comments aimed at her while mentioning her Palestinian heritage and moved toward her aggressively, police said.
The man stepped between Clyne and his wife and was again punched in the face and physically assaulted by Clyne, causing the man to be pushed onto his wife, police said.
The two victims refused transport to a hospital for their injuries, according to police.
Police were unable to provide any other details of the confrontation, and Clyne was not immediately available to comment.
In response to the charges, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization, said it welcomed the charges “as an indication that anti-Palestinian attacks will be taken seriously by law enforcement authorities.”