Police: Des Plaines man threatened Muslim women at park, made bigoted remarks

A Des Plaines man who reportedly made bigoted statements and threatened Muslim women at a local park is facing hate crime-related charges, police said Tuesday.

Matthew R. Kindle, 44, of the 2000 block of Laura Lane, also struggled with officers trying to arrest him, according to a Des Plaines police news release.

The confrontation began a little after 5 p.m. Sunday at Lake Park, 2200 Lee St., police said.

Officers were called to the park to deal with an unwanted subject. When they arrived, Kindle told them a group of women had approached him and made a derogatory remark about him, according to the news release.

The officers then spoke with three women, all wearing hijabs (headscarves) and other traditional garments, who said Kindle yelled threats at them while they were in a playground area and disparaged their religion, according to the release.

Kindle also repeatedly approached the women while reaching into his waistband as if a weapon was there, police said.

He said he would “get them” and threatened to shoot them, among other remarks, police said.

While officers spoke with one of the women, Kindle began shouting at another person, police said. They arrested him after he became further agitated and struggled with officers, police said.

During the arrest, Kindle made several comments about “white power” and his German-Italian ancestry, police said.

Kindle is charged with three felony counts of disorderly conduct/hate crime in a public park; three felony counts of aggravated assault/hate crime in a public park; three misdemeanor counts each of aggravated assault and disorder conduct; and one misdemeanor count of resisting a peace officer.

Kindle appeared in the Skokie branch of Cook County circuit court Tuesday for a detention hearing, and he wasn’t held. He’s next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 10.

rlissau@dailyherald.com