A professor is charged with a hate crime after allegedly spitting on a Black mother and hurling racial slurs at her and her seven-year-old daughter outside an Illinois grocery store, per The Associated Press. 

Alberto Friedmann, a neuro-kinesiology professor at the National University of Health Sciences in Lombard, Illinois, is also facing felony charges of aggravated assault with a motor vehicle.  

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The claimed encounter happened on September 7 outside a Jewel-Osco store approximately 10 miles from Chicago. 

The woman and her daughter were parked in front of the store while waiting for her mother to finish shopping. She then heard “honking and yelling” and overheard a man in a Jaguar behind her, subsequently identified as Friedmann, yell a racist slur and say “Move your f—— car,” as reported by NBC News’ Antonio Planas. 

She gestured for Friedmann to drive around, but he instead proceeded to hurl racial obscenities before exiting his vehicle and approaching hers. The woman tried to get out of her car, but Friedmann pushed the door shut and spat in her face, telling her he “doesn’t like Black people.” 

Shortly after the woman got out of her car to retrieve Friedmann’s license plate number, he accelerated his car and “came within inches” of hitting her. He hit her car twice with his vehicle. 

Police arrived and were able to take Friedmann into custody. He was released on $2,500 bail but is prohibited from contacting the victim or witnesses, per Chicago Tribune’s William Lee. 

Friedmann allegedly admitted to spitting on the woman and hitting her car, but his lawyer says he denies using any racial language, per AP. 

Students at the school are shocked and outraged by the charges against the professor, according to Illinois State Rep. LaShawn Ford, who told NBC Chicago that several of the professor’s students have reached out to him. 

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“They sent letters to higher-ups. They are destroyed because they are taught by this person, and their question is what type of person this is,” Ford said. 

National University of Health Sciences said in a statement to NBC Chicago that it takes allegations of misconduct seriously and Friedmann has been placed on suspension “pending the results of a university investigation.”