A university professor who was charged with multiple felonies after allegedly yelling racial slurs and spitting on a Black woman at a suburban grocery store earlier this month has resigned from his job.
Alberto Friedmann "tendered his resignation of employment" Friday while an investigation into his "off-campus conduct" was underway, a spokesman for Lombard's National University of Health Sciences said Monday.
"The investigation was not complete at the time of resignation," said Victoria Sweeney, director of communications and enrollment services.
Prosecutors had alleged that a woman and her 7-year-old daughter were parked in front of a grocery store in Oak Park, waiting for the woman’s mother to finish shopping. They then heard honking and yelling from another vehicle, which prosecutors say was driven by Friedmann.
The woman said she told the man to drive around her, but Friedmann then allegedly got out of his car and began screaming racial slurs at her.
The woman said she attempted to exit her car, but Friedmann allegedly pushed the door closed and then spit in her face, telling her that he spit on her because he “didn’t like Black people,” according to prosecutors.
Friedmann also allegedly intentionally hit the woman’s car with his car, and he admitted to prosecutors that he spit on the woman during the altercation.
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The professor now faces charges of aggravated assault and committing a hate crime, both of which are felonies.
“That is just atrocious. Why would you treat another person like that?” Oak Park resident Cole Swiernik said.
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Students at the school expressed their shock and outrage at the allegations against the professor. Illinois State Rep. LaShawn Ford said some of the teacher’s students contacted him about the incident.
“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.
The school said at the time that Friedmann was suspended pending the results of an investigation by the university.
“We take allegations of misconduct seriously,” the school said.
