Hate Crime Suspected In Stabbing of Law Professor

Members of the University of Illinois College of Law community received sad and disturbing news yesterday when they learned that a faculty member at the law school was the victim of an apparent hate crime.

The law professor (who remains anonymous at the request of the University) was found on the second floor of the Illinois Terminal on Wednesday.

University president Michael Hogan assured students and faculty that the alleged attack was made by a person who is not affiliated with the university….

Here are some details from the Illinois News-Gazette:

They found two men on the second floor, one of whom was sitting in a chair bleeding heavily and the other lying face down on the floor with a utility knife laying nearby.

A male witness told police the men were both seated in the waiting area when one man suddenly jumped up and shouted that this was his country and attacked a non-white male.

The attacker, later identified as Joshua Scaggs, 23, of Fithian, then grabbed the 41-year-old Champaign man around the neck and appeared to be choking him. He then forced the victim to the floor.

The witness intervened by pulling the attacker off the victim. The witness then noticed that the attacker was holding a utility knife and the victim was bleeding.

Luckily, the professor survived and was able to cooperate with the police.

Sponsored

Hogan released this statement to the University of Illinois community:

As some of you may have read in the newspapers, this morning a member of our faculty was severely injured during what appears to have been a senseless act of aggression and alleged hate crime by another not affiliated with the University of Illinois. The University is deeply saddened by this event.

We are grateful to those who intervened to offer aid and the thoughts of the entire University community are with the victim and his family, wishing for a complete and speedy recovery.

We also wish the professor a quick recovery.

Man arrested for stabbing UI faculty member at Illinois Terminal [Illinois News-Gazette]
University faculty member stabbed in alleged hate crime [Daily Illini]

Sponsored