Tinley Park ‘Mob Attack’ Aftermath: Fundraising Emerges for Both Sides

Radical solidarity, usually measured in bodies, bombs and bombast, is now being measured in dollars.

Donation pages have been established for people on both sides of a blitzkrieg inside the Ashford House Restaurant on Saturday.

( Tinley Park Police photos / May 21, 2012 ) Top row: Cody Sutherlin, Jason Sutherlin and Dylan Sutherlin. Bottom row: Alex Robert Stuck and John Steve Tucker have been charged in connection with a mob attack at the Ashford House Restaurant Saturday in Tinley Park.

Five Indiana men, along with 13 companions, connected with the Anti-Racist Action (ARA)movement are accused of targeting and beating an unsuspecting group of white nationalists. What supposedly began as the first meeting of the European Heritage Association (EHA)—which looks to provide resources for small business owners of their kind—ended in mob violence.

One page hoping to garner $250,000 for bail, “adequate legal representation” and the care of their families of the men arrested has reached $850 in a couple days.

Mark Potok, senior fellow with the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the ARA has a long-standing history of violence—one Tinley Park Patch will delve into more this Friday. Potok is also the editor in chief of the law center’s investigative magazine, The Intelligence Report.

“The ARA, you have to understand, they think they’re heroes right now,” Potok said.

On Twitter, a feed dedicated to helping the “Tinley Park Five” was created. Its profile picture shows a spray-painted Pac-Man feeding on a swastika.

The author of another site is seeking donations for the men and women targeted in the attack, as well as “damages to the restaraunt (sic)” and “childrens (sic) charities.” As of Wednesday afternoon, it had raised nothing.

Damages

Bail for the Five totals $975,000, 10 percent of which must be posted for release.

The defendants, three of whom are brothers, were charged each Monday with one count of felony mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property. Bail for Cody Sutherlin, 23, was set at $200,000 and $175,000 each for Dylan Sutherlin, 20, Alex Stuck, 22, and John Tucker, 26. The highest amount of $250,000 was pinned on Jason Sutherlin, 33.

Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Deno said that’s because he was convicted of an Indiana burglary in 1998. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison but only served two. He successfully completed probation in 2008, Deno said. more

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