Woman Who Spit On BLM Crowd Who Surrounded And Taunted Her During The Summer Of Love Gets Convicted Of Hate Crime

MILWAUKEE — A jury found a Shorewood woman accused of spitting on a Black teen during a protest in 2020 guilty on Wednesday.

Stephanie Rapkin was charged with disorderly conduct. The trial began on Monday. Sentencing is set for May 23.

Last summer, she turned down a plea deal and pushed for the case to go to trial.

Rapkin, 67, was arrested after she was seen on video spitting on Black Lives Matter protester Eric Lucas.

According to a criminal complaint, people were yelling at Rapkin to move her car outside Metro Market on Oakland Ave. during a rally. Lucas allegedly began chanting "I'm Black and I'm proud" with his friends as he approached Rapkin. As he stood several feet from her and chanted, Rapkin allegedly turned and spit on him.

The complaint says Rapkin's "saliva struck him in his face/mouth area and on the top of his shirt."

Rapkin told police she was a cancer survivor and felt threatened because she was surrounded and they didn't have masks on.

A day after being detained and released, Rapkin was arrested a second time when protesters were outside her home and she kneed a responding officer in the groin.