The Cook County Forest Preserves officer who stood idly by as a belligerent man harassed a woman in a Puerto Rico flag T-shirt resigned late Wednesday.
Officer Patrick Connor drew widespread outrage after a viral video surfaced of Mia Irizarry being harassed and intimidated by a white man upset that she was wearing a T-shirt bearing a Puerto Rican flag. As the man aggressively follows Irizarry around a forest preserves site, asking her if she’s a U.S. citizen, Irizarry turns repeatedly to Connor for help.
“You should not be wearing that in the United States of America,” the man tells Irizzary, not believing her when she informs him Puerto Rico is, in fact, part of the United States.
On the video, not only does Connor hang back and do nothing, at one point, he turns his back to Irizarry as she asks him to intervene.
“Officer, I feel highly uncomfortable. Can you please grab him? Please, officer?” She asks as he walks away.
The incident took place in Caldwell Woods on Chicago’s Far Northwest Side in June, reports the Chicago Tribune, but went viral on social media this past Monday.
Connor’s resignation was announced by forest preserve officials, according to WABC 13 TV. The man caught on video harassing Irizarry has also been identified by authorities as 62-year-old Timothy Trybus. As the Tribune reports, Cook County, Illi. prosecutors are considering charging Trybus with a federal hate crime.
Trybus has already been charged with misdemeanor assault and disorderly conduct.