Kankakee man Nicholas Monacelli charged with hate crime after Vinisha Sherrod injured at Mac & Frankie's bar in Bradley: Police
A man is facing several charges, including a hate crime charge, after a fight at a suburban bar. Police said it happened at Mac & Frankie's bar in Bradley last month. The suspect was just charged this week.
ABC7 spoke exclusively to the victim about what happened.
It was supposed to be a normal night out for Vinisha Sherrod while at a bar that she says she's been to on numerous occasions. That was until she says she was called a racial slur before being assaulted and thrown out.
A tense confrontation that spilled out of a bar was captured on cell video and involved a Kankakee man who is now accused of a hate crime.
ABC7 Chicago has blurred the faces of people in the video who do not face any charges.
Vinisha Sherrod is now reflecting on how her holidays turned violent at Mac & Frankie's bar in Bradley on December 23, just before midnight.
"I did nothing wrong. I never even looked his way," Sherrod said.
In a redacted security video provided to ABC7 by Bradley police, the moments that led up to the fight can be seen. There's no audio on the clip. A man is sitting at the bar alone before Sherrod, her girlfriend and another friend sit near him for drinks. The faces of everyone else in the video are blurred since they don't face charges.
"You'll see in the surveillance video, he was staring at me the whole time," Sherrod said. "He said take the n-word... somewhere else."
A manager is called in by the bartender who, Sherrod says, eventually tells her group to leave.
"And, as I was about to put my cup down, she tries taking it out my hand," Sherrod said.
Things quickly escalated from there.
"All I know is just, like, a bunch of white men just come grabbing me, and forcing me out," Sherrod said. "The white man who called me the n-word, he still had me while I was out the establishment... That's when I, like, hit the ground, and I just heard my thumb crack."
The 27-year-old was left with a broken thumb and some hair ripped out. Police were later called and arrested 71-year-old Nicholas Monacelli, charging him with multiple counts of battery and a hate crime.
"You shouldn't feel uncomfortable anywhere if you want to go out and enjoy yourself. It's 2026," Sherrod said.
Investigators say the suspect did admit to putting his hands on the victim, claiming because she was using foul language in the bar.
Messages left by ABC7 for Monacelli and for the bar's owner were not returned.
