Police: Man chases biker displaying Mexican flag with ice pick, yelling slurs

A traffic altercation near Gurnee, Ill., Wednesday morning led to a felony hate crime charge against a man from unincorporated Gurnee who attacked a motorcyclist with an ice pick while yelling “racial slurs and racial expletives,” according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Joseph L. Zens, 67, of the 37100 block of North Shirley Drive in unincorporated Gurnee was held Thursday in Lake County jail on $15,000 bail on charges that include a misdemeanor count of aggravated assault, according to a statement released by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

A 57-year-old man from unincorporated Gurnee called the sheriff’s office around 11:35 a.m. Wednesday after he said he was attacked by a man wielding an ice pick and shouting racial slurs and expletives, according to the news release.

The man, who police said was Hispanic and had a Mexican flag on his motorcycle, had been traveling northbound on North Delany Road near Sunset Avenue in unincorporated Gurnee when a 2009 Hyundai SUV abruptly changed lanes and cut him off, according to the release.

Another vehicle had been pulled over on the side of the road, but the SUV driver changed lanes “recklessly” and nearly caused a crash, said Sgt. Christopher Covelli, a spokesman for the sheriff’s office.

The motorcyclist followed the SUV for about a block trying to get the license plate number and a vehicle description, according to Covelli and the statement.

The driver of the Hyundai, later identified as Zens, pulled onto West Meyer Road, where he stopped and exited his vehicle, according to the statement. The man allegedly began yelling anti-Mexican racial slurs and expletives before retrieving an ice pick from his vehicle and chasing the victim with it.

The motorcyclist, who was able to get onto his motorcycle and get away before being struck with the ice pick, told deputies that Zens shouted, “You (expletive) Mexican, go back to your country” as he was chasing him with the ice pick, Covelli said.

Zens denied the attack to deputies, but the motorcyclist provided a photo showing Zens wielding the ice pick, Covelli said. Deputies, who spoke with Zens at his residence, also found an ice pick in his Hyundai, which corroborates the other man’s statement.

Zens was arrested without incident and taken to the Lake County jail.

After reviewing the facts of the case, Lake County State’s Attorney Mike Nerheim approved charging Zens with a felony hate crime, the statement added, noting that if found guilty at trial, Zens could be sentenced up to three years in prison.

“This type of hateful conduct will never be tolerated in Lake County,” Nerheim said in the statement.

Sheriff John Idleburg said in the satement that “hate has absolutely no place in Lake County. Being victimized because of the color of one’s skin, ancestry, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected classification is completely unacceptable. We will always be there to stand up for the victims of crime.”

Lake County has not seen a spike in crimes where hate is the driving factor, Covelli said.

Zens is scheduled to appear in Lake County Circuit Court on Aug. 28.