Man beaten on St. Pat's Day trying to break up racist attack in Chicago
St. Patrick’s Day is known for green garb and green beer, and sometimes bad behavior.
Over the weekend, one man says he was attacked after stepping in and standing up to racist bullies.
Marti Murphy from Michigan now has a black eye and a lump on the back of his head. He was attacked Saturday afternoon after the St. Patrick’s Day parade in downtown Chicago.
Murphy was among the hundreds of thousands of party-goers near Michigan and Wacker when he saw a group of six white men hitting two black women and yelling racial slurs.
“As the guy hits the lady she falls on the ground and the guys says ‘white power’ and a bunch of other people in the crowd go ‘white power,’” Murphy said.
He says no one was standing up for the women, so he did and was beat up for it.
“I had a few words with them about how embarrassing they were to their families and to their mother,” Murphy said. “And their mother raised them better than this and real men don't hit women.”
In Wrigleyville, amateur video shows two security guards forcefully dragging a bar patron from an establishment, down the stairs and out the door.
Police scanner traffic reports several appalling calls for service.
“Passed out by the port-a-potty"
"Female bleeding from the lip…"
"Lincoln Memorial is still packed…"
Downtown Alderman Brendan Reilly tweeted the following Sunday: "My thanks to Streets & Sanitation for cleaning-up the disgusting mess St. Patrick's Day brought to downtown Chicago. No thanks to the thousands of drunk suburban kids who used our neighborhoods like a giant toilet bowl. Never ending cab horns from 1A-5A were a nice touch as well."
“As a Murphy it's offensive to me that someone would do this on St. Patrick’s Day. As an American its offensive to me that someone would do this period,” Murphy said.
He says the Chicago police did not step in and stop the attacks.
FOX 32 reached out to Police News Affairs and they tell us they did make one arrest in the incident. A 22-year-old Chicago man was charged with assault and battery.
Police say overall downtown, they made four arrests.