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A White man caught on video assaulting random Black people outside a Chicago Starbucks now faces serious penalties.

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The Washington Post reports that charges against 24-year-old William Boucher have been upgraded from misdemeanor battery to felony hate crime charges.

On June 6, Boucher flew into a rage inside a downtown Starbucks after someone accidently spilled a drink on his pants. Still enraged, he walked out the coffee shop and punched a homeless man and spit on two Black people. He’s heard on the video using racial slurs against Blacks, telling one person to “Shut up, slave.”

An ABC 7 Chicago photographer recorded the incident:

The Cook County State’s Attorney Office issued four new felony hate crime charges and four upgraded felony aggravated battery charges against Boucher, The Post reported.

He faces a range of sentencing options that include probation or two to five years for each battery charge, and one to three years for each hate crime charge, the newspaper said.

ABC reported that the 59-year-old man whom Boucher struck suffered an eye injury in the attack. Starbucks employees stated that Boucher was a problem customer but was never violent before that racially charged incident.

SOURCE: Washington Post, ABC 7 Chicago

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White Man Charged With Hate Crime For Assault At Chicago Starbucks  was originally published on newsone.com