Robert Palley Charged With Hate Crime, Battery After Altercation With Woman In River Forest

CHICAGO (CBS) — Robert Palley was charged with a hate crime and aggravated battery after he confronted an African American woman in a suburban grocery store, allegedly calling her a ‘black bitch” and saying, “this is why people are dying.”

After that exchange inside the store, the woman starting shooting video in the Jewel-Osco parking lot in River Forest on Wednesday morning. Police said Palley, 61, was charged with one count of hate crime and one count of aggravated battery after he allegedly “committed a battery against a female, African-American woman in the parking lot of a Jewel Foods store following a verbal exchange that, according to the victim and witnesses, was racially-motivated.”

In a Twitter video, a woman said she was at a Starbucks in the grocery store when a man called her a “black b—” and said “this is why everyone is dying.” The exchange was not captured on video but the woman followed the man into the parking lot and started recording before a physical altercation broke out.

Warning, language:

I was attacked at Jewel Osco in Oak Park, IL while I was trying to purchase Starbucks. This man called me a black bitch and said I couldn’t speak English. Then he proceeds to say this is why black people are dying.

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This is America. Somebody out there knows who he is. pic.twitter.com/N26sItRflk

— daj x. (@DajSav) June 3, 2020

In a video posted on Twitter, the woman said she was at a Starbucks inside the Jewel-Osco when a man, who police now say was Palley, called her a “black bitch” and said “this is why everyone is dying.” That exchange was not captured on video. But the alleged battery in the parking lot was.

The video shows the woman walking behind Palley, asking him if “he as anything to say for himself now.” Palley turns around and puts his hand on his hip and then lunges toward the woman, who then says, “If you touch me, I am going to beat your ass.” The scuffle then ensues and the woman begins to scream, “Don’t you fucking touch me!” The scuffle lasts for 20 or 30 seconds, as bystanders can be heard stepping in to help.