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A Northwest Side man was charged with a hate crime and his three adult sons were charged with felony aggravated battery in an alleged attack on a motorist in which racial epithets were shouted, prosecutors said.Mahmoud Alkhazaleh, 53, of the 5500 block of North Mango Avenue also was charged with aggravated battery and vehicle invasion in a June 9 attack on a man who allegedly had honked his horn to prod Alkhazaleh to step out of the path of his truck, according to court documents.Alkhazaleh called the victim a "blue-eyed devil" and an " 'American [expletive]' during a physical attack that included throwing rocks and spitting,"according to court documents. Alkhazaleh has denied using such language and said the incident started when the driver nearly ran him over.Alkhazaleh and his three sons, Ahmad, Ala and Ali, appeared in Bond Court Wednesday in the Cook County Criminal Courts Building.The father was held in lieu of $60,000 bail, while Ala, 27, and Ali, 23, were held in lieu of $40,000 bail and Ahmad, 20, was held in lieu of $35,000 bail. The sons were charged with aggravated battery and vehicle invasion, prosecutors said.The motorist was driving his truck on Mango Avenue on Monday when the elder Alkhazaleh stood in the street blocking the vehicle's path, prosecutors said. The driver honked, but Alkhazaleh did not move. The driver then tried to go around Alkhazaleh but could not pass, and Alkhazaleh allegedly started to strike him and pelt him with rocks, prosecutors said.As the driver tried to call 911 from his cell phone, Alkhazaleh yelled out for three of his sons to join him in the street, prosecutors said. They ran out of the apartment and started to beat the victim, spit on him and throw rocks, prosecutors said.Alkhazaleh, who was released Wednesday night from the Cook County Jail, said he did not use any hate speech during the incident, and claimed the driver started the fight. The whole thing started, he said, when the driver "came up the street, he almost hit me."The two men exchanged words and, he said, the driver called him a "Pakistani [expletive].""I'm not even Pakistani," he said.The father and three sons had returned to their apartment by the time police arrived. Witnesses directed police to the family's home. When the officers knocked on the apartment door, a woman answered and said the men were not home, but the officers could hear interior doors closing and locking inside the apartment, prosecutors said. They entered and found and arrested the men.The men are due back in court June 16 for a hearing.As in the days of Noah...
