Brother Rice Student Threatened with Noose, Victim of Hate Crime

Chicago - Three youths have been charged with a hate crime in connection with an incident in which a black Brother Rice student says he was threatened with a noose by a fellow student and two other teens.

The incident happened off campus, and the school is continuing to look into the matter.

The suspects are between 16 and 18 years old.

“He walks over to me, with the noose in his hand, he comes puts the noose around my neck and he begins to tighten the noose, almost strangled me to the ground,” hate crime victim Joshua Merritt said.

Merritt, 17, is a senior at Brother Rice. His alleged attackers, who are all white, used to be his friends, he said.

On Dec. 23, when he went to the home of the 16-year-old, the three suspects turned on him.

He said they put the noose around his neck twice and wouldn't let him leave the house, and at one point one of them pulled out a switchblade.

Merritt told police that during the incident, his attackers repeatedly used the N-word and they threatened to kill him.

When Merrit was finally able to get out of the house, he said he was going down the sidewalk to catch a bus home when the 16-year-old jumped him from behind.

“The same guy that put me to the ground earlier comes up to me with a knife from behind me,” Merritt said, “and said 'stop talking to my cousin, you're annoying her. If you don't stop I'm going to kill you.'”

Merritt said it was his friendship with that girl, the white cousin of the 16-year-old suspect, that apparently sparked the incident.

Matthew Hermann, 18, of Alsip, was charged with felony counts of unlawful restraint and hate crime, as well as misdemeanor battery, police said. He is a 2011 graduate of Brother Rice. The two other suspects, ages 16 and 17, are facing the same charges in juvenile court. The 16-year-old who was also charged with aggravated assault with a dangerous weapon.

The teens were charged Jan. 10, police said.

The mother of the 16-year-old has called the allegations lies. The president of Brother Rice said the 17-year-old suspect told his staff it was just horseplay that went too far.

The school is hoping to get a copy of the police report, and that could lead to disciplinary action.

Follow Craig Wall on Twitter: @craigrwall

Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.