Lawyer spits on teen Wisconsin protest organizer, assaults officer, police say

What began as an argument with protesters has spiraled for a Wisconsin lawyer, who faces charges of battery, disorderly conduct, battery to a law enforcement officer and resisting/obstructing an officer, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

The attorney, Stephanie Rapkin, 64, was arrested Saturday because police say she spit on a teen high school student in Shorewood, the paper reported. A cellphone video shows a woman identified as Rapkin arguing with a man on the sidewalk. As a group of demonstrators approach, one leans toward her and cups his hands around his mouth, as if to shout. Rapkin arches back and appears to spit.

Rapkin is white, and the protester is black, as well as a teenager.

As the crowd shouts, some bystanders gather around Rapkin, some with their arms outstretched to keep the crowd away from her.

The group was protesting the death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man who died after a police officer pressed his knee into the neck of the handcuffed Floyd on Memorial Day.

In an interview with the paper, the protester, Eric Patrick Lucas III, 17, a high school student, says he was leading the protest when the group found Rapkin’s vehicle prevented them from passing on the street. They encountered her when they tried to get past on the sidewalk, he says.

“The first five seconds, I saw red,” Lucas told the Journal Sentinel. “And everything went black. And after that, I have to remember, oh my God, you’re a black man. You can’t do anything to this white woman because then the narrative is going to be completely changed. And I’m not a black man, I’m a black child. I’m a minor. But because I’m black, I’m going to be perceived as a man. And because I’m almost 18, they’re going to look at me as a man.

“I shouldn’t have to worry about looking good in front of the community because I fear that I’m going to end up getting beat or killed because someone assaulted me, a minor,” he said.

Then Sunday, according to police, Rapkin accosted a 21-year-old Ithaca College (N.Y.) student who was with a group writing messages on the sidewalk outside her home, including, “Be better than this,” and “I spit on a child. How dare you!” according to the Journal Sentinel.

In another cellphone video, Rapkin argues with the student, Joe Friedman after she confronts the group. Rapkin tells Friedman the spitting incident was a response to being physically attacked by the protester, and she “demonstrated the supposed attack by appearing to shove Friedman in the chest,” Genevieve Redsten and Meg Jones of the Journal Sentinel write.

Lucas does not appear to touch Rapkin in the video.

According to the paper, police say “the victim reported the suspect then slapped both of her hands on the victim’s chest and physically pushed him.”

Police told Rapkin she was under arrest, and she resisted, the paper reports, and struck one of the officers in the groin.

A report has been filed with the Office of Lawyer Regulation, which looks into complaints and makes recommendations to the state Supreme Court, which can fine, suspend or disbar lawyers, the paper notes.

Some have called for Rapkin to be disbarred and charged with a hate crime.

“We know from listening to our students over the last five years that what happened to Eric was not an isolated incident in our community,” said Shorewood School Board President Paru Shah, according to the paper. “They have told us that they feel fearful, unwelcome and unwanted in Shorewood.”

As for Lucas, he vowed to continue demonstrating.

“I want to be viewed as an equal. I want to be able to walk down the street and be comfortable in my own skin,” he said.

“When you’re growing up black in America, you’re forced to have to act older than your age because of the adversities and the struggles that you go through. So you’re forced to adjust, which is messed up. But we’ve got a saying as black folks — ‘it is what it is.’ We’ve got to take what we go through, and we’ve got to keep moving forward.”