A black man went with a group of white friends to an Indiana lake on July 4 to watch a lunar eclipse and was attacked by five drunken white men who pinned him to a tree, tried to break his arms, shouted racist slogans and epithets, and yelled “get a noose!” They also assaulted witnesses videotaping the incident.
But state DNR officers responding to a 911 call made no arrests and refused to interview witnesses, and did not ask the victim if he needed medical attention, prompting the mayor of nearby Bloomington to complain to the governor. DNR later issued a statement that its officers are “investigating” the incident. The prosecutor’s office said it’s waiting on the investigation to determine what charges may be filed.
“I shudder to think that if those other folks [witnesses] hadn’t been there that we would be planning a memorial service,” the victim’s attorney said.
Then, the next day, a driver slammed a car into a crowd gathered at the Bloomington courthouse to protest the incident and drove off, leaving behind two injured people, including a woman trapped on the car’s hood.
Read story here, here, and here, watch the videos below, and read the victim’s statement here. The incident follows another racist incident at the same lake just a few days before. Read that story here.
Update: The FBI has confirmed it’s investigating the incident as a possible federal hate crime.