Man arrested after angry, racist rant at Loop Starbucks

A North Side man who became irate after someone spilled coffee on his pants at a Starbucks in the Loop punched a man, spit on two other people and insulted another with racial slurs.

The incident was captured on a video by an ABC7 cameraman who happened to be in the Starbucks at the time.

William Boucher, 23, was charged Tuesday with three misdemeanor counts of battery, according to Chicago Police.

Just after 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Boucher was at the Starbucks at 40 W. Lake St. “when he had a beverage spilled on him by unknown person,” police said.

He “became irate and exited the business onto the sidewalk where he punched a 59-year-old male unprovoked and spit on a 30-year-old male and 34-year-old female,” police said.

In the video, Boucher can be heard using racial slurs against African-Americans, including telling one man: “Your children are despicable vermin.”

He tells another person to “Shut up, slave;” and yells at another “Get on all fours. You don’t deserve to walk on two legs.”

After starting to walk away, Boucher punches an apparently homeless man, and is then grabbed and taken to the ground by two other men, one of whom holds him down until police arrive.

A Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement: “We have absolutely no tolerance for this type of behavior in our stores, and are grateful to the partners (employees) and customers who stepped in to help until officers arrived.”

Boucher, of the 7600 block of North Sheridan, is scheduled to appear in court July 5 at Branch 29-5 at Belmont and Western.