Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe WAUKEGAN, Ill., July 22 (UPI) -- An Illinois man has been charged with disorderly conduct for giving a Nazi salute during the court appearance of a man charged with a hate crime. Richard Mayers, 33, is being held on $20,000 bail in Lake County, Ill., after being charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct, the Chicago Tribune reported. Mayers may also be charged with contempt of court. Advertisement Authorities claim Mayers, charged last week with destroying Holocaust-related tapes from a library, called to a man being arraigned for an attack on two girls. Mayers then gave the Nazi salute and repeated it before he was arrested. As he was being led away, he directed a racial slur at a 12-year-old black girl on a tour at the court, an official told the Tribune. An attorney appointed for Mayers said the man's actions were protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The man Mayers called to was Pat Langballe, 29, who authorities said attacked two girls June 16 after the girls said they were lesbians. Langballe pleaded not guilty.
