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Chicago Teen Who Livestreamed Herself And Friends Torturing A Mentally Disabled Man Sentenced To 4 Years' Probation

Brittany Covington remained in jail for nearly a year without bond.

One of the four Chicago people who live streamed the torture of a mentally disabled man last year has been sentenced to probation after spending almost a year in jail without bond. 

Brittany Covington, 19, had been held at the Cook County Jail since January after she and co-defendants Tesfaye Cooper, Jordan Hill and her 24-year-old sister Tanishia Covington were arrested on kidnapping and hate-crime charges, reported the Chicago Sun-Times.

Covington recorded and shared a Facebook Live video of her friends physically assaulting an 18-year-old white man who was classmates with Jordan Hill at a west suburban alternative high school.

After the video went viral, people debated whether there were racial or political motivations behind the attack due to the insults Covington and the others were heard saying. At one point, the group called the man a Trump supporter and ordered him to say, “I love Black people.”

Also in the video, one of the defendants tears the victim’s clothing with a knife, punches and kicks him, and forces him to drink water from the toilet.

Eventually, the unidentified victim managed to escape and was later found by police about a block away.

The plea deal prosecutors made with Covington is the first of ongoing negotiations with the other defendants. Covington was the first of the four to be released, and will be placed on probation for four years. She is also barred from contacting Cooper and Hill.

The three other co-defendants remain in custody.

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