Man who stabbed Black bar patron, bar manager during racially charged fight in Elgin gets 19-year prison term

Courier-News, Courier-News (Elgin, Ill.)
·2 min read
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A Bartlett man who shouted racial epithets at a Black man before stabbing him in the chest in the parking lot of an Elgin bar has been sentenced to 19 years in prison.

Jason M. Ostrego, 30, of the 600 block of White Oak Lane, also stabbed the bar manager in the face and hand as he tried to stop the attack, according to the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors said the incident took place Jan. 31, 2022, when Ostrego was escorted out of Hoppe’s Bar, 1075 N. Liberty St., for “using racially charged language while complaining about the music playing on the jukebox” and refusing to stop when told to do so.

Ostrego’s mother was waiting to pick him up in the parking lot but he refused to leave with her, instead starting argument with Black patron Anton Patterson, accosting him with racial epithets and challenging him to a fight, a release on the incident said.

Breaking away from his mother, Ostrego pulled out a knife and stabbed Patterson in the chest. After bar manager David Scrubbs struck Ostrego in the face in an attempt to stop him, Ostrego turned on him and slashed his face and hand, the report said.

Both victims were taken to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, where Patterson had to undergo open heart surgery to repair the right vetricle of his heart and Scruggs required 15 stitches to his face and five to his hand, leaving his nose disfigured, prosecutors said.

Ostrego was arrested at the scene and the knife recovered. This week he pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and armed violence, both class X felonies, and was sentenced by Judge David Kliment.

Under state law, Ostrego must serve at least 85% of the sentence.

“Jason Ostrego’s actions were a brutal assault on two innocent individuals,” Assistant State’s Attorney Eric Leafblad said in a statement. “We are very fortunate that this was not a homicide. If Mr. Patterson’s or Mr. Scruggs’ wounds had been an inch or two in a different location, this would be a murder case.

“This sentence reflects the severity of the defendant’s crimes and serves as a reminder that violence, particularly racially motivated violence, will not be tolerated in our community.”