A Chicago man is facing federal charges after he allegedly spit in the face of an FBI agent who was waiting in line to enter the agency’s parking lot on the Near West Side.
Remarkably, authorities say, Jerome Bychowski told the agent he would get away with the crime because he didn’t believe the federal agency would have video of what happened on its perimeter — or words to that effect.
As you might expect, the agency did have video. And another agent who was also waiting in line to enter the parking lot took pictures of Bychowski and his license plate before he fled the scene.
According to a federal complaint, the agent was returning to the FBI office in a government car at 7:09 a.m. on January 12 after conducting surveillance in an unrelated case.
FBI video shows the agent’s car waiting in line behind another agent who was also waiting to enter the bureau’s gated lot on Leavitt Street when Bychowski pulled up behind them and started honking, the complaint said.
The agent in the second car reportedly opened his door and asked Bychowski to stop honking and either wait or go around.
Instead, Bychowski, 55, pulled up next to him, rolled down his passenger window, and told him to “‘go inside and do your p*ssy job,’ or words to that effect,” the complaint continued.
Bychowski then allegedly stepped out of his van and confronted the agent, saying, “‘if you’re such a tough guy, get out of the car and show me,’ or words to that effect,” the complaint said. He continued, “calling him ‘a p*ssy who’s hiding behind your job and your car and afraid of getting your *ss kicked,’ or words to that effect.”
He then leaned into the agent’s car and spat in their face, hitting the agent on the cheek and forehead, according to the complaint.
When the agent told him he had just committed a federal crime, Bychowski “responded ‘Good luck proving it — there’s no video,’ or words to that effect.”
Meanwhile, the agent in the first car stepped out of his vehicle and took pictures of Bychowski, his van, and its license plate with his phone. Investigators tracked the plate to Bychowski and matched his driver’s license photo to a picture of the driver, according to the complaint.
Locating Bychowski was a little tricker — at least at first — because he no longer lived at the address on his license.
FBI agents subsequently learned that Chicago police stopped Bychowski for a traffic violation in 2021, and he told them that he had recently sold his house and he was living in his van on a vacant lot “just down the street from the FBI,” the complaint continued.
Bychowski is charged with forcible assault of an FBI special agent.
