His actions and motivations in committing a crime, alleged or proven, are relevant, that's why it entered my mind - he is under investigation for a crime, is he not? Igniting racial tensions doesn't need to be the crime, just as stealing money to pay off debts doesn't make paying off debts a crime, but it's still relevant in showing mens rea and the kind of mens rea e.g. knowing, negligent, reckless etc and in assessment of the effects of his actions.

I guess I’d call it an appeal to racial sympathy more than anything else. If Chicago wants to charge him with filing a false report, they can go right ahead, but I’m pretty sure they don’t need his personal records to establish that.