Probate attorney arrested for spitting on 17 year old protester
(Meredith) – A 64-year-old woman was arrested after a video showed her spitting on a teenage protester during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Wisconsin.
Stephanie Rapkin parked her car in the middle of a street on Saturday, blocking a protest march in Shorewood, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Video shows Rapkin get out of her car, walk to the sidewalk, and confront protesters. Several people urged her to move her car. Moments later, another group of protesters approached the woman and began shouting at her as she shouted back.
“We were yelling, ‘Black lives matter. I’m black, and I’m proud.’ And she got mad,” protester Ilijah Taylor-Jordan told WDJT-TV.
Rapkin can then be seen spitting on 17-year-old Eric Patrick Lucas.
“When that happened, it was just a quick rush of anger, pain, and confusion. I didn’t know how to feel,” Lucas said, adding that he was traumatized.
Police arrested Rapkin later that night on suspicion of battery and disorderly conduct. She did not stay at the Milwaukee County Jail due to the jail’s current policy related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Within 24 hours, Rapkin was arrested again.
This time, about 10 people had gathered outside her house on Sunday around 4 p.m. to stage what police called a peaceful protest.
The Journal Sentinel reported that one of the demonstrators, Joe Friedman, admitted to writing a few notes in chalk on the sidewalk in front of Rapkin’s home after hearing about her initial arrest.
Among other things, he wrote: “Be better than this” and “I spit on a child. How dare you!”
After about an hour, police said Rapkin came out of her house and started arguing with the protesters. She then “slapped both of her hands” on Friedman’s chest and shoved him before returning to her home, according to police.
When officers arrived at Rapkin’s home and told her she was under arrest, she resisted their attempts to handcuff her. Police said she then struck one of the officers in the groin.
Shorewood police are now seeking charges of battery, disorderly conduct, battery to a law enforcement officer, and resisting/obstructing an officer.
A legal complaint was also filed against Rapkin, who works as an estate planning and probate attorney.
Michael S. Maistelman, an election law attorney, filed the complaint Sunday night with the State Office of Lawyer Regulation, asking it to investigate Rapkin’s possible professional misconduct.
Photo Credit: kmov.com