64-year-old lawyer Stephanie Rapkin has been arrested and charged with battery after spitting in the face of Eric Patrick Lucas III. The incident occurred at an anti-racism rally that Lucas III organized in the Shorewood, Wisconsin community. During the rally, Rapkin parked her car in a position that blocked the march. When organizers approached her and asked her to move the car, she spat on the high school junior.
“I continue to be mentally and physically shaken. To be assaulted by an adult in my own community during a pandemic was traumatic,” Lucas III said.
“Again and again, I am viewed not as a child but as a color,” he continued.
A white woman named Stephanie Rapkin was so upset by the Northshore March for Georges Floyd organized by Shorewood black youth that she parked her car to block the nearly 5K ppl & then assaulted a young black man by spitting on him. Stephanie you about to lose your Law License!?? pic.twitter.com/QaYsBGzGIH
— Rep. David F. Bowen (@DavidFBowen) June 7, 2020
Soon thereafter, Rapkin was detained and charged with battery and disorderly conduct. Her bail has been set at $950.
In the future, Rapkin could face further charges. She was caught on video having a verbal altercation with a local college student named Joe Friedman who attempted to confront her after spitting on Lucas III. During the altercation, she claims that she was explaining to Friedman that she was protecting herself from Lucas III after being pushed. As she explained this, she argues that she was simply demonstrating the shove on Friedman and proceeded to shove on the local college student. However, this altercation was caught on camera.
“You just put your hands on me,” Friedman said in the video.
“That is assault right there. Wow, I just got that on video, ma’am,” he adds.
Attorney Michael Maistelman has filed a complaint with the Office of Lawyer Regulation asking them to investigate Rapkin for professional misconduct. Furthermore, community members have called for Rapkin to be charged with a hate crime for spitting in the face of a Black teenager.
