CBS News accused of misleading report on racially charged Facebook Live beating

CBS Radio News is facing blowback for a report that can only be described as misleading to listeners about the races of those involved in the brutal beating of a mentally disabled man in Chicago last week.

All four attackers arrested for the incident were black. The sole victim is white. Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Thursday that authorities believe the four black suspects targeted the victim not because he is white, but because of his "special needs."

However, if you listened to the report Thursday morning from CBS Radio News, you might come away with the exact opposite impression:

The viral video of a beating and knife attack in Chicago suggests the assault had racial overtones. CBS’s Dean Reynolds tells us the victim is described as a mentally challenged teenager.

In the video he is choked and repeatedly called the n-word. His clothes are slashed and he is terrorized with a knife. His alleged captors repeatedly reference Donald Trump. Police are holding four people in connection with the attack.

The report noted the attackers' "reference" to President-elect Donald Trump, but what it left out is that the suspects said, "F**k Donald Trump" and "F**k white people."

The attackers did use the N-word repeatedly in the video, but clearly not as a racial epithet against their white victim.

The graphic confrontation was broadcast live on Facebook as the mentally disabled white man was beaten, threatened with a knife and forced to drink from a toilet. All four of the attackers have been charged with hate crimes.

A CBS News representative did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment.

(H/T: Mediaite)