A 17-year-old boy was hospitalized Tuesday after police say two teens punched and pistol-whipped him while yelling derogatory slurs during a fight on Madison's east side. Officers have developed probable cause to arrest two suspects, one facing a disorderly conduct charge with a hate crime enhancer and the other facing substantial battery and disorderly conduct while armed, also with a hate crime enhancer.
According to WKOW, the fight broke out Tuesday on Madison's east side, and the victim told police that he and a schoolmate were simply walking in the area when two other teens approached them. That's when, police say, one teen punched the victim and another pistol-whipped him while the pair yelled slurs. A stranger driving nearby reportedly stopped her vehicle to break up the fight before officers arrived.
Madison police officers responded to the 2200 block of East Washington Avenue on Tuesday, according to the police report cited by the station. The suspects were no longer at the scene by the time officers got there, though officers reportedly noticed some of the property the suspects had been carrying during the attack.
Search Warrant Executed at Hoard Street Apartment
Investigators tracked one suspect to an apartment on Hoard Street, where a search warrant was drafted and executed, the station's report states. During that search, police recovered both a firearm and a fake firearm from the suspect's belongings. The case remains active and ongoing, per the same account, with no further detail released on the suspects' identities or whether formal charges have since been filed.
Pattern of Hate Crime Enhancers in Madison
This isn't the first time Madison police have pursued hate crime enhancers in recent years. In a separate case, officers arrested 61-year-old Daryl J. Copus of Fitchburg for disorderly conduct with a hate crime enhancer after a disturbance at a Hy-Vee on East Washington Avenue around 8:20 p.m. on New Year's Eve, according to WKOW. Police spokesperson Stephanie Fryer said at the time that Copus was directing racial comments toward Hy-Vee staff, and the department's Hate Crimes Task Force was notified.
More recently, a man turned himself in to Madison police's Central District on Sept. 26, 2025, after being accused of shouting slurs on the city's near east side, according to WMTV. That case stemmed from a report of disturbing comments made in the 100 block of Dunning Street after noon on Sept. 15, and the man faces a disorderly conduct charge with a hate crime enhancer. Separately, UW-Madison police said they were requesting a hate crime enhancer with a disorderly conduct charge against an Illinois man over a campus incident, according to Madison.com.
Statewide Hate Crime Reports Have Climbed
The FBI recorded 111 hate crimes in Wisconsin in 2021, a 54 percent increase from 72 the year before, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. That year, 325 of the state's 448 law enforcement agencies reported hate-crime statistics to the FBI, and about 30 percent of the crimes reported were classified as anti-Black or African American. A criminal justice professor told the outlet that the rising numbers were partly attributable to increased reporting by victims, though those figures reflect 2021 data and don't establish a current statewide trend.
Under Wisconsin law, when a hate crime enhancer and another penalty enhancer apply to the same offense, the length of the second enhancer is calculated based on the maximum term for the base crime as already extended by the first enhancer, according to the Wisconsin Legislature's statutory annotations. That framework could factor into how the two Madison suspects' cases proceed, though no charges or court dates have been confirmed. Police have not released further details on the suspects' identities, and the investigation remains active.
