An Orland Park man has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge stemming from an alleged hate crime involving the man’s neighbor, according to court records and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
Terrence Clyne, 68, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor battery at the Cook County courthouse in Bridgeview. A more serious felony hate crime charge lodged against Clyne was dismissed by the state’s attorney’s office.
According to police, Clyne, of the 15400 block of Catalina Drive, punched a male neighbor because of his Palestinian origins following a dispute about garbage cans.
The confrontation occurred the morning of Jan. 3, and Clyne had punched the neighbor after the man had moved garbage cans from a shared driveway to another spot, according to police.
Cline also made hateful comments, referring to the man’s national Palestinian origin, police said at the time. At one point the man’s wife tried to verbally deescalate the situation when Clyne made more hateful comments aimed at her while mentioning her Palestinian heritage and moved toward her aggressively, police said.
The man stepped between Clyne and his wife and was again punched in the face and physically assaulted by Clyne, causing the man to be pushed onto his wife, police said.
Clyne was sentenced to a year of probation, ordered to pay fines, have no contact with the neighbor, complete 20 hours of community service by next August and complete anger management courses, according to court records and the state’s attorney’s office.
An attorney representing Clyne did not respond to a message Thursday seeking comment.
