Lawyer arrested twice for spitting at teen protestor and shoving another, knees cop in the groin

A 64-year-old lawyer in Wisconsin was arrested twice in a span of 24 hours after she was caught on camera spitting in the face of a young black protester on Saturday and then shoving a college student on Sunday. Attorney Stephanie Rapkin later made things worse for herself again when she kicked an arresting officer in the groin. She showed up at a peaceful anti-racism rally in Shorewood on Saturday afternoon at about 4:30 p.m. and parked her car across the road to block the march, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

When asked to move her vehicle, Rapkin reportedly left her car in the middle of the road and was filmed walking up to protestors shouting at them. A video shared by Facebook user Caress Gonzalez Ramirez shows the woman spit on 17-year-old Eric Patrick Lucas III, a Shorewood High School junior who helped organize the rally and march. According to PEOPLE, in a press release regarding the disturbing incident, the Shorewood Police Department said that the probate and estate planning lawyer was arrested on Saturday night "for spitting on a juvenile male during a verbal altercation that took place in the 4000 block of Oakland Avenue."

Rapkin is charged with suspicion of battery and disorderly conduct and her bail was set at $950. However, she wasn't taken to the Milwaukee County Jail with regard to this incident due to coronavirus policies. "I continue to be mentally and physically shaken. To be assaulted by an adult in my own community during a pandemic was traumatic," Lucas revealed. "Again and again, I am viewed not as a child but as a color." Meanwhile, community leaders have called for stronger action, including disbarring her and adding a hate crime charge to the case.

The following day she was arrested again for allegedly pushing an Ithaca college student in front of her house. She was captured on cellphone video in an altercation with 21-year-old Ithaca College senior Joe Friedman, who was among a group protesting in front of Rapkin's home. He had been writing protest messages with chalk on the sidewalk in front of her home when she came out and got into an argument with the demonstrators. A video posted to Facebook by Friedman's mother, Debra Brehmer, shows him confronting Rapkin about spitting on the teen. "You people are so incredibly stupid, it isn't funny,” Rapkin responds. "I spit on a man who attacked me."

"He did not attack you. How did he attack you?” Friedman asks, at which point the lawyer storms over to him saying, "I said I was sorry, but when someone comes over to you like this," and appears to shove the young man in the chest. Police revealed in the press release that they received a call on Sunday at 3:41 p.m. about the incident. "The victim reported the suspect then slapped both of her hands on the victim’s chest and physically pushed him” and went back inside her house, the release states. Officers were only able to make contact with her after "numerous unsuccessful attempts," they said.

"The victim reported the suspect then slapped both of her hands on the victim’s chest and physically pushed him,” they added. When officers arrived at the scene and told her she was under arrest for battery and disorderly conduct, she allegedly "became physically resistive" allegedly kneed one of the officers in the groin when they tried to handcuff her. Police are now pursuing charges of battery, disorderly conduct, battery to a law enforcement officer, and resisting/obstructing an officer against Rapkin. 

Furthermore, Michael Maistelman—an election law attorney—has filed a complaint with the state Office of Lawyer Regulation asking it to investigate Rapkin for possible professional misconduct. Shorewood schools Superintendent Bryan Davis denounced the woman's behavior while praising Lucas and the other demonstrations. The incident "exposed the horrific, overt racism that still exists in our community" and was an "appalling display of racial hatred," he said, calling on the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office to include a hate crime penalty enhancement for any upcoming charges against Rapkin. "If we, as Milwaukee County, are going to treat racism as the crisis it is, we must make sure that law enforcement and our criminal justice system look at these types of incidents through a racially motivated lens," he said.