Bloomingdale man guilty of battery, not hate crime, for verbal attack on Muslim Lyft driver
Editor's note: An earlier version gave an incorrect first name for the judge.
A Bloomingdale man has been found not guilty of committing a felony hate crime when he called a Lyft driver a Muslim terrorist.
However, Steven McCuiston, 61, of the 300 block of Torrington Drive, was guilty of the lesser crime of misdemeanor battery, DuPage County Judge Jeffrey MacKay ruled Thursday morning.
MacKay said there was no question a battery was committed and that McCuiston called the 53-year-old woman, who is an Indian immigrant, "a (expletive) Muslim terrorist."
But the attack was motivated not by race or religion, MacKay said, rather by McCuiston being drunk and getting inappropriately angry when the driver did not follow his directions on how to take McCuiston and his wife home from a pub on Army Trail Road on March 8, 2019.
"I think it goes without saying these are vile comments, they are reprehensible ... spoken by a man of vile character," MacKay said.
"No one, no matter of race, creed or sexual orientation, deserves behavior like that."
The judge sentenced McCuiston to 14 days in jail, 15 days in the sheriff's work-alternative program and 18 months of probation. He also ordered McCuiston to take anger management and racial bias classes, and to refrain from drinking alcohol during his probation.
Rick Kayne, one of McCuiston's attorneys, told the judge that McCuiston had received supervision for a 2006 driving under the influence of alcohol case.
McCuiston testified Monday that he drank four or five beers at the pub that night and that he called for a Lyft because he was too drunk to drive to his house.
He told MacKay he wanted to apologize to the driver, "and more importantly, all Muslims," for the language he used. "I wasn't in control that night," he said.
McCuiston said he interacts with Muslim people in his current job "and they have been great experiences."