St. Charles police are investigating what is being described as a hate crime after two men and a woman were battered during an incident that began in the parking lot of a Lincoln Highway sports pub.

Police spokesman Paul McCurtain said Friday the incident remains under investigation, and declined to discuss the nature of the hate crime.

The FBI defines hate crime as any crime that is motivated by a bias or prejudice, usually related to race, sexual orientation, religion and other factors.

In the St. Charles incident, police responded at 1:45 a.m. Jan. 6 to the 2000 block of Lincoln Highway (Route 38) to a report of a battery against two males and a female. The victims told officers that they were in the parking lot of Time Out Sports Pub, at 2051 Lincoln Highway, when they were confronted by two females and two males and a verbal altercation occurred. They then all left the area.

According to police, the victims said they were walking home along Route 38 when they were confronted again by the other group, which drove up in a car and cut in front of the victims. The two males and two females then got out and began to batter the victims, who suffered contusions and abrasions, police said.

One victim called 911, and their attackers fled in their vehicle.

The investigation is ongoing, and officers have conducted numerous interviews, police said.

On it’s website, the FBI has a civil rights page with an overview about hate crimes that states, “Congress has defined a hate crime as a ‘criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender's bias against a race, religion, disability, ethnic origin or sexual orientation.’ ”