DePaul attack case ends with misdemeanor plea and probation

A suburban man who confronted a slate of hate crime and felony battery fees tied to an alleged anti-Semitic assault on the DePaul College campus, resolved the case this week by pleading responsible to a single misdemeanor, courtroom data present.

Adam Erkan, 20, pleaded responsible to a decreased cost of misdemeanor battery earlier than Choose Tyria Walton, who sentenced him to 2 years of probation and ordered 100 hours of group service, based on the data. Prosecutors dismissed seven felonies, together with 4 hate crime counts. The result brings a comparatively swift finish to a case filed in April however rooted in allegations from November 6, 2024.

Prosecutors mentioned the Hoffman Estates resident was among the many individuals who confronted DePaul college students who have been exhibiting assist for Israel throughout a surge of pro-Palestinian demonstrations on campus and all through Chicago late final yr. In a civil lawsuit filed in opposition to the college, pupil Max Lengthy alleged he suffered a concussion throughout the confrontation, whereas one other pupil, Michael Kaminsky, mentioned he sustained a damaged wrist.

Video cameras allegedly recorded Erkan arriving on DePaul’s Lincoln Park campus about an hour earlier than the confrontation in a car registered to his father. On the similar time, Lengthy was exterior the varsity’s pupil heart, 2250 North Sheffield Avenue, carrying a sweatshirt studying “Curb Your Antisemitism” and holding an indication that invited individuals to “speak about Israel with an [Israel Defense Forces] soldier,” officers mentioned. He and Kaminsky had been talking with college students about Israel at that location for a number of months, based on a courtroom submitting.

Erkan, carrying a ski masks, and a companion finally engaged the boys. After a prolonged dialog, Erkan’s companion knocked Lengthy unconscious, prosecutors mentioned. When Kaminsky stepped in, Erkan allegedly pulled him away and pushed him to the bottom.

Court docket data present Erkan had no prior felony historical past.