‘I Was at a Loss’: Black Man Outraged After White Woman Who Spat on Him as a Teen Gets Slap on the Wrist, Followed by ‘Disappointing’ Settlement Agreement
A Black man who was just a teen when a white woman in her 60s spit on him during a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020 is not happy with the settlement amount in the civil case concerning the matter.
Now 22, the victim was formerly known as Eric Lucas III. He legally changed his name in 2023 due to the sheer amount of publicity in the case, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. His current name has not been released in effort to respect his privacy.
According to attorney William Sulton, his client didn’t get his just due from 67-year-old Stephanie Rapkin for the humiliation and emotional distress she inflicted on him when she spit on him while he was co-leading a protest with his high school peers four years ago.
“It was surprising and disappointing, given the evidence we had,” Sulton told the Journal. “Much of it included the exhibits that were presented during the criminal trial just a year earlier.”
“We had video of her spitting in a person’s face … but this jury came to the verdict that it came to,” Sutton continued, ostensibly referring to the outcome of the criminal trial. Sulton, who was candid in saying it was “less than we anticipated, has not disclosed the settlement amount.
In April 2023, Rapkin, who is an estate planning and probate attorney by trade, was convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct after video footage showed her spitting on Lucas. It was more lenient than the initial hate crime enhancer she’d been charged with before a judge granted the defense’s motion to remove it, court records show.
She was sentenced to 60 days in jail after rejecting the judge’s initial sentence of one year of probation and 100 hours of community service.
“It’s not viable. I’d rather go to jail right now and take care of it,” Rapkin said at her May 2023 sentencing hearing.
Lucas and his attorney were also not happy that Rapkin received the lesser charge.
“The other day I had like a horrible breakdown, a mental breakdown,” Lucas said, according to a report by Urban Milwaukee. “I just felt like I was at a loss, like I can’t win.”
The spitting incident occurred in the Shorewood neighborhood of Milwaukee on June 6, 2020. According to Lucas, Rapkin spit on him after using her car to block a march he and his peers were engaged in. He said they were also chanting, “I’m Black, and I’m proud.”
However, Rapkin testified that she was in fear for her life as a cancer survivor because no one was wearing masks, and Lucas had gotten too close. She also said people were touching and grabbing her, and she spit on the ground, not on Lucas.
“There’s clear video of spit leaving your mouth and hitting the teenager,” a Sentinel reporter says to Rapkin during an interview with her at a Milwaukee courthouse.
“I’m innocent. I did not spit on a child. He’s not a child. I wish people would stop saying that,” Rapkin responded, saying Lucas had come after her. When the reporter reminds Rapkin that Lucas was, in fact, 17, she says he’s 21, to which the reporter cites the fact that he was 17 when the incident occurred.
“He was a teenager who’s 5-foot-8 and about 200 pounds. … How could I spit up? He’s as tall as you are. You can see how small I am. I couldn’t run. I had no place to go. They blocked me in at 65-years-old with cancer.”
Sulton said everything Rapkin said was a lie. His other attorney, Matthew Pinix, also disputed Rapkin’s alleged fears when lamenting the judge’s decision to throw out the hate-crime modifier.
“Stephanie Rapkin spit on Eric when he was chanting ‘I’m Black and I’m proud,’ and she bypassed white people in the very same protest to do it,” Pinix said, noting the plaintiff walked towards the protesters. “The fact that our justice system cannot even let a jury decide that question is further demonstrative of the inherent bias in our system against people of color.”
Rapkin was also facing a felony battery charge for allegedly kneeing an officer in the groin when they came to her home to arrest her the day after she spit on the teen. That charge was dismissed in November 2023.