Two white men in Indiana have been charged in connection with an alleged assault on July 4 against a black man who had posted videos of the incident and claimed he was trapped against a tree.
Sean Purdy, 44, and Jerry Edward Cox, 38, were charged in the alleged attack on Vauhxx Booker, 36, Monroe County District Attorney Erika Oliphant announced Friday.
Purdy was charged with three serious offenses: criminal confinement, intimidation, and battery that resulted in moderate bodily injury. Cox was charged with two serious offenses: aiding, inducing, or causing criminal confinement and battery that resulted in moderate bodily injury. He also faces charges of misdemeanor intimidation and battery.
Booker, a member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission in Bloomington, Ind., Said on his Facebook account of the incident that the men involved in the alleged assault “testified to members of his party multiple times to” obtain a rope “. among some other insults”.
He also said in the post that he was attacked by five white men “who literally threatened to lynch me.”
Purdy’s attorney, Mark Kamish, told NBC News in a statement Saturday that his legal team was “obviously disappointed” with Oliphant’s “unfortunate decision to charge Sean Purdy while choosing not to file criminal charges against his illegal assailant.” .
“Indiana law allows citizens to make arrests of people who beat others on private property, and to use reasonable force to do so. Indiana also has a broad self defense statute, ”Kamish said in Saturday’s statement. “We would appreciate a jury trial next week so that the stigma of false and unfair charges can be exposed.”
Kamish was reportedly referring to Purdy’s claim to investigators with the state Department of Natural Resources that the dispute began after he attempted to explain to Booker and another person that they were on private property, rather than state property, in the area around Lake Monroe. Purdy also told state investigators that Vauhxx had hit him, according to the state report, which was released this week.
Purdy told investigators that “Booker was not friendly to him” because he did not like his hat, which he described as “a cowboy hat with a Confederate flag,” the report said.
Cox’s attorney, Joseph Lozano, did not respond to a phone call or email seeking comment on Saturday.
State investigators said in their report that “Mr. Cox stated that he called Mr. Booker a ‘diaper head b —-‘ and said he regretted that.”
Cox also told investigators that “he heard specific comments about a noose and a noose, but did not know who said them or the exact wordiness,” the report said.
State investigators concluded that they found evidence of multiple crimes committed by Purdy and Cox and by Booker, who the report said could be charged with misdemeanor assault and trespassing.
Booker, through his attorney Katharine Liell, issued a statement in response to the investigative report, saying it was incorrectly published and more evidence that racism is “systemic,” The Indianapolis Star reported.
“Vauhxx Booker is the victim,” the statement read in part. “Even suggesting that a hate crime victim is a suspect is inexcusable, immoral, and there is more evidence that racism is systemic.”
The FBI is investigating the incident, according to The New York Times. Liell, Booker’s attorney, told a news conference on Friday that the FBI interviewed him as part of the investigation.
It is unclear whether Purdy or Cox had been detained as of Saturday afternoon.
