The Illinois professor has been accused of spit and shouting racial insults at a Black mother in a hate crime complaint.
On Sept. 7, several news outlets reported that the woman and her 7-year-old daughter waited in a Jewel Osco supermarket parking lot for her mother.Immediately after Alberto Friedmann drove up behind them, he started honking and shouting racist slurs.
Court documents recorded him yelling, “Move your fucking car!” When the woman told the professor she wanted him to go around her vehicle, the professor instead got out and approached her. She was then refused entrance to her car and was spit on by the man because “he hates black people.”
At this point, the Black woman got out of her car, took the license plate of Friedmann’s car, and called for help. During this episode, she threw bottles at the professor trying to prevent him from fleeing, so he drove toward her. The driver was inches away from hitting her, but he managed to strike both her side bumper and side door.
Friedmann was detained by police moments later after responding to the scene. During that time, he said he spit on a Black woman and struck her car. His attorney, John McNamara, however, argued that, since he is a minority and he is an “immigrant child,” he did not use any racial insults against the woman during his court hearing on Sunday (Sept. 19).
According to Cook County court records, the professor was released on $2,500 bond after pleading guilty to felony hate crimes and felony vehicular aggravated assault. Also, he was terminated from his position as a professor of neurokinesiology at the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, Illinois.
We take all accusations of wrongdoing seriously and, therefore, suspended Alberto Friedmann while an investigation is under way at the university, officials at National University of Health Sciences said.
