Feds: 'Knockout' attack was a hate crime

[SpartanDem]

Source: CNN

A man has been charged with a federal hate crime in connection with what authorities say was a racially motivated "knockout" assault against an elderly black man, the U.S. Justice Department said Thursday.

Conrad Alvin Barrett, 27, of Katy, Texas, has been charged with one count of violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.

According to the federal complaint, Barrett attacked the elderly man "because of the man's race and color."
The suspect made a video of the attack November 24, the complaint said. In the video, he allegedly commented that "the plan is to see if I were to hit a black person, would this be nationally televised?"

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/26/justice/texas-knockout-charge/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

[Gothmog]

1. This happened in my area

I saw mentioned on this in the Houston paper

[lunasun]

2. ouch

He then allegedly "hit the man with such force that the man immediately fell to the ground. Barrett then laughed and said 'knockout,' as he ran to his vehicle and fled."

The victim suffered two jaw fractures and was hospitalized for several days, the complaint said.
79 years old !! They have multiple prior racist comments made on social media too

[Bernardo de La Paz]

8. 27 yo coward attacks 79 year old man. This is what racists aspire to. nt

[K.O. Stradivarius]

23. Racist assholes on both sides of the equation.

At least in OP's quoted case, the victim wasn't left brain dead...

'I'm going to knock out the next white person who walks by': Chilling words of man before he punched 62-year-old stranger to the ground in racist attack that has left victim brain dead

A 31-year-old African American who allegedly said he wanted to attack the next white person who walked by could be charged with hate crimes after punching three people in an apparent racially motivated attack.

One of his victims, 62-year-old Jeffrey Babbitt, has been left brain damaged after being punched to the ground in New York's Union Square on Wednesday afternoon, in a senseless attack that shocked onlookers.

Witnesses were shocked at the unexpected violence in Union Square on Wednesday afternoon, as Lashawn Marten punched Mr Babbitt and two other men after allegedly making racist comments.

Mr Babbitt appeared to get to his feet shortly after the incident but is now in critical condition and in a coma at Bellevue Hospital Center. His doctors believe he is clinically brain dead.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2414966/Im-going-knock-white-person-walks-Chilling-words-man-punched-62-year-old-ground-apparent-hate-crime-left-victim-brain-dead.html

Amazingly, he is being charged with a hate crime; although the article doesn't state if it's a Federal or State charge or not.

Lashawn Marten (pictured above), a suspect charged with punching Jeffrey Babbitt (pictured below) in Union Square after yelling he was going to attack the first White man he saw, was charged with manslaughter as a hate crime Tuesday, reports the New York Daily News.

http://newsone.com/2736534/lashawn-marten-union-square/

[bitchkitty]

28. Amazingly? Why do you say that?

Do you not believe that this qualifies for a hate crime?

[Jimbo S]

29. Yes, it qualifies

but I can't remember the last time hearing about an AA being charged with a hate crime.

[Cha]

19. What a big brave stupid asshole.

[Incitatus]

3. He got the national attention he wanted.

And he will soon realize you can get what you want but that doesn't mean you're going to want what you get.

[Blanket Statements]

4. Bullshirt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

9. What the heck nonsense is your one word post about?

[Blanket Statements]

10. It is what it is

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. It is nothing. nt

[Blanket Statements]

13. Your opinion

[Bernardo de La Paz]

15. Welcome to DU "Blanket Statements" as of Nov. 30, 2013. nt

[Blanket Statements]

16. And?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. So.

Welcome, in this context, means to encourage community, to make a new person feel comfortable, to help them fit in.

DU is a short form for Democratic Underground, an active site for Democrats, liberals, and progressives where meaningful and articulate discussion is valued.

November 30, 2013 is when you first joined. It is not possible to retroactively extend the welcome any further back before that.

"nt" is a courtesy tag members append to their posts when the entire message is in the Reply Title and there is "no text" in the body. It helps readers by saving them from looking for more text in the body of the thread when they read a Reply Title like that among the thread titles.

[Blanket Statements]

18. Riiiiiiight

[Bernardo de La Paz]

20. Actually, most people on this site are left of center.

[Blanket Statements]

21. Okaaaaay

[LanternWaste]

31. And the supporting evidence for your conclusion would be what?

And the supporting evidence for your conclusion would be... what exactly?

[Blanket Statements]

32. Selective application of the hate crime laws

Is Bullshirt

[LanternWaste]

33. Less easy and more disingenuous than simply saying you have no evidence... but it's your dime.

Less easy and more disingenuous than simply saying you have no evidence... but it's your dime.

[rrneck]

34. The first rule of holes is

when you're in one, stop digging.

[frylock]

5. i hope he gets all the attention he desires while in jail

[JI7]

6. didn't some claim this "game" was all about blacks going after whites

[Blanket Statements]

11. The overwhelming video evidence would support that claim

[840high]

14. Most of these attacks were.

[7962]

22. Well, if you look at the majority of the incidents, they have been just that.

Although only some have had mentions of racial comments being made by the attackers, most have been black-on-white. Quit giving them so much publicity and it will go away.

[Igel]

24. Which is probably part of the kid's calculations.

Dog bites man doesn't get much attention, esp. when advocacy groups defending canines are vocal and deny that such attacks ever happen in the interest of canine well-being.

Man bites dog is all the more potent a media story: Not only does it involve all the biting that the media sort of said happened and which got pushback, but it's a *permissible* story because not only doesn't it put canines in a bad light, it would immediately provoke outrage at the abuse that canines have gotten from mankind and can be used to show both how horrible humans are and how sympathetic we must be to man's best friend.

[Nye Bevan]

26. "Some claim"? Talk about weasel words.

Who made this claim? Rush? Hannity? Palin? Links, please! (if it happened)

[decrepittex]

27. It would seem

it's more like cowardly assholes going after older people who they determine will be no threat.

[William769]

7. Good!

[freshwest]

25. Please lock up this waste of protoplasm forever. Total psychopath. No excuses. n/t

[Gothmog]

30. I am willing to bet that this idiot watches Fox News

This attack seems to be inspired by the hype being pushed by Fox News about this knock-out game. It appears to me that this idiot believed the reports on Fox News and wanted to get into the action by hitting a non-white. I strongly believe that watching Fox News is dangerous

[Ash_F]

35. If the media did not blow this up out of nowhere, we wouldn't start getting these copy-cats

Police organizations have stated that these attacks have not become more prevalent than previous years.

Perhaps because there are more cameras and more access to the internet, more are getting televised, but this is not a recent 'epidemic'.