Hate Crime Charge Dropped As Northfield Woman Pleads Guilty To Battery

SKOKIE, IL — A white North Shore woman who was charged with a hate crime after confronting a trio of Black bicyclists in Winnetka was sentenced to probation this week after she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Irene Donoshaytis, 67, of Northfield, was recorded on cell phone video striking one of the cyclists as she falsely claimed the three Skokie residents were not permitted on the public pier at the end of Tower Road.

Donoshaytis was initially arrested and charged with battery on the evening of the Aug. 17, 2020, incident. About two weeks later, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office approved one felony hate crime charge against her and withdrew the battery charge.

On Wednesday, Donoshaytis pleaded guilty to one count of battery in exchange for a sentence of one year of probation, an anti-racism class and about $500 in court costs. She completed the anti-racism course while awaiting trial, according to court records.

Video of the incident was posted online by Otis Campbell, the bicyclist Donoshaytis struck, who was at the mid-point of a 20-mile ride with his cousin and a friend. Before he started recording, he said Donoshaytis approached them and asked them to leave.

At the time, there were other people on the pier who also had bikes, prosecutors said, but Donoshaytis did not approach them to demand they show their beach passes, which are not required to ride on the pier.

In the video, the Northfield resident falsely claims Tower Road is private.

"It's for people who live in Winnetka and we pay for it," Donoshaytis said. Campbell can be heard laughed at her.

"It's not so funny," she said.

"I'm dying of laughter," Campbell said as he continues to laugh.

"Are you crazy? Maybe you want to kill me?" Donoshaytis said.

"Not at all," he replied.

"No?" Donoshaytis asked. "It feels like that."

'"Why would I want to kill you?" Campbell asked. "Is it because I'm Black?"

"Yes," she said. "Mmm-hmm."

After twice striking Campbell, Donoshaytis "then began to walk away claiming that she was hit," according to prosecutors.

After Campbell called 911 and Winnetka police arrived, Donoshaytis admitted that she had hit Campbell, telling officers she did so because she wanted him to stop filming her, police reported.

Patch requested comment from Donoshaytis' listed attorney, Jeffrey Fagan, and any response received will be added here.

Read more: Hate Crime Charge For White Woman Recorded Striking Black Man

Campbell said Donoshaytis appeared to be resisting arrest for about 10 minutes before officers took her into custody. He suggested the situation would not have played out the same if their roles had been reversed.

"If I were to be resisting arrest, not even 30 seconds into resisting arrest, I would be flipped, I would have a broken shoulder," Campbell told Patch, shortly after the upgraded charge was filed.

Campbell said he had nothing against Donoshaytis personally, and that she may well be a nice person.

"She's not a bad human being. But the person I have a problem with is Irene the racist — when she sees a black person, when she's at a Trump rally," Campbell said back in 2020.

He noted some of Donoshaytis' since-deleted social media posts included racist epithets, descriptions of Black people dying of COVID-19 as "natural selection," and pictures at herself at a rally in support of the then-president.

"There is an Irene that is smart that can judge people normally without seeing color," Campbell said, "because that's what she does when she doesn't see Black people. She sees a person as a person."