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WEW
A man who was caught on video unleashing a racist tirade and then turning violent outside a Chicago Starbucks has been arrested and charged with battery, police say.
According to police, 23-year-old William Boucher “became irate” after someone spilled a drink on him inside the Starbucks on Tuesday afternoon.
A local television photographer who was in the store at the time captured the incident on his cellphone camera. In the video, a man later identified as Boucher can be heard shouting, “You’re disgusting!” and other insults in the presence of other customers and employees.
The incident escalated after Boucher left the coffee shop and spit on a 30-year-old man and 34-year-old woman, police said.
In additional video footage, Boucher, who is white, can be seen hurling racist insults at two black bystanders. He appears to be wearing a cream-colored suit that still has visible drink stains.
“Shut up, slave! Do not talk to me!” Boucher yells at the two black men, as someone who appears to be a Starbucks employee tries to intervene. “Your children are disposable vermin!”
Moments later, Boucher continues yelling toward one of the men, who is walking away: “Get on all fours! Do not walk off on two legs!”
Shortly after that, police said, Boucher punched a 59-year-old male without provocation. The man was taken to a hospital with an eye injury, ABC7 News reported.
Bystanders, including the man who was spit on, detained Boucher near the Starbucks until officers arrived to arrest him, police said.
Boucher has been charged with three misdemeanor counts of battery, according to Chicago police. He is scheduled to appear in court July 5.
Local Starbucks employees told ABC7 News reporter Eric Horng that Boucher has been a “problem customer in the past, but never violent.”
A Starbucks spokeswoman said the company did not have further details about what happened in the store, or whether Boucher had a history as a customer at the downtown Chicago location.
“What I can tell you, though, is that we have absolutely no tolerance for this type of behavior in our stores, and are grateful to the partners (employees) and customers who stepped in to help until officers arrived,” the Starbucks spokeswoman said in an email to The Washington Post.
