North Cook News

Members of Congress are urging action from Cook County Commissioner Toni Preckwinkle after video of a man harassing a woman in Caldwell Woods for wearing a shirt with a Puerto Rican flag surfaced on social media.

The Chicago Tribune reported, 62-year-old Timothy G. Trybus, was recorded aggressively questioning why a woman is wearing a T-shirt that has the flag on it.

Rep. Peter Roskam and eight other lawmakers sent Preckwinkle a letter calling Trybus’ actions a “racist and deplorable tirade,” and asking him to prevent further acts from occurring at public facilities.

Rep. Peter Roskam

“You should not be wearing that in the United States of America,” Trybus says in the video.

When the woman, identified as 24-year-old Mia Irizary by CBS News, appeals to Officer Patrick Connor, he appears to ignore the situation. CBS said Trybus was arrested for disorderly conduct when other officers arrived. The incident is now under investigation by law enforcement, according to the Tribune, and Connor has been reassigned to desk work.

The letter from Roskam and his colleagues ask Preckwinkle to “remind all employees of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County of their responsibility to not only their professional duty but to their moral duty when they see someone being harassed and attacked due to intolerance and ignorance.”

In a press release from Roskam’s office, the congressman calls the incident an example of “hate and vitriol” that “we can no longer tolerate.”

“Cook County is a snapshot of the diversity that we find all across this nation and every culture, every race is a part of the melting pot that makes our country great,” Roskam said in the statement. “We should all encourage each other to engage in civil and respectful discourse in our interactions with one another.”