FBI indaga carrellata fatale di nero miss. uomo

The FBI has opened a civil rights investigation into the death of a black man who Mississippi authorities say was intentionally run down by a white teenager in a pickup truck.

Deborah Madden, an FBI spokeswoman in Mississippi, said Wednesday that the bureau is investigating the June 26 death of James Craig Anderson. Madden said the agency wants to “determine whether federal civil rights crimes occurred.”

Anderson’s death flamed anger across the country when a surveillance video was made public of him being run over near a hotel in Jackson. Mississippi was the scene of some of the most shocking violence of the civil rights era.

Deryl Dedmon, who authorities say was driving the green 1998 Ford F-250, is charged with murder. John Aaron Rice is charged with simple assault for allegedly assaulting Anderson before he was killed.

Mississippi authorities say Dedmon and Rice, entrambi 18 al momento, and a group of other teenagers were out looking for a black person to assault when they found Rice just before dawn near a Jackson hotel.

Their attorneys deny they were involved in a racially motivated attack.

Rice had also been charged with murder, but a judge reduced the charge after police testified that he had left the scene in another vehicle before Anderson was run over. Prosecutors said they will still urge a state grand jury to indict both teens for murder.

Hinds County District Attorney Robert Schuler Smith did not respond to messages Wednesday seeking comment. Jackson Police Detective Eric Smith, who investigated the case, refused comment Wednesday.

The hotel’s security camera captured video of Anderson being run over. The surveillance video, obtained by The Associated Press and other media, shows a white Jeep in which Rice was allegedly a passenger leaving a hotel parking lot at 5:05 am.

Less than 20 seconds later, a Ford truck backs up and then lunges forward. Anderson’s shirt is illuminated in the headlights before he disappears under the vehicle next to the curb. The hotel provided Jackson police with the video, which prosecutors say has been vital in the investigation.

Rice’s attorney, Samuel Martin, suggested during a hearing last month that the teens were on a beer run after a night of partying, not looking for a black man to assault, as prosecutors allege.

Martin ha suggerito nel corso di una serie di domande con un detective della polizia che la Rice non era a conoscenza di alcun piano per attaccare indiscriminatamente un uomo nero.

Smith ha testimoniato nel corso di un'audizione legame nel mese di luglio che Dedmon era stato derubato da un uomo nero nelle settimane prima della morte di Anderson e stava cercando “una sorta di rivincita” quando ha chiesto la gente a una festa in Rankin County per andare a Jackson in cerca di qualcuno “a pasticciare con.”

Sette persone intestato a Jackson in due auto, con Dedmon e Riso in veicoli separati.

Il procuratore distrettuale ha detto insulti razzisti sono stati utilizzati durante l'attacco e che Dedmon successivamente si vantava di “solo corse che n—– sopra.”

L'uccisione ha evocato ricordi del passato razziale violento dello stato, compreso il pestaggio, jailing and killing of civil rights activists in the 1960s.

Dedmon was pulled over on Interstate 20 in Rankin County later that morning. Rice was arrested a few days later. Authorities have not ruled out that others at the scene could be charged.

Fonte: Associated Press