New Hampshire Investigates Wounding of 8-Year-Old as Possible Hate Crime
Source : The New York Times
State authorities in New Hampshire are investigating a possible hate crime after a family reported that their 8-year-old boy was pushed by teenagers off a picnic table with a rope around his neck, injuring him. The boy, who is biracial, was treated in the hospital and released, the police said.
The attack occurred Aug. 28 in Claremont, a city of about 13,000 in the western part of the state, and came to light after the boy’s mother, Cassandra Merlin, posted a photograph of her son’s bloodied neck and a statement about it on her Facebook page. “It truly saddens me that even in a city so small, racism exists,” she wrote.
Ms. Merlin could not be reached for comment. She and other relatives told news outlets that their understanding of events came from the boy and his 11-year-old sister, and that there were no adults present at the time.
The boy’s grandmother, Lorrie Slattery, told Valley News, a New Hampshire newspaper, that he and others were playing in a yard in their neighborhood when the teenagers, who are white, started calling the boy racial epithets and throwing sticks and rocks at his legs.
Ms. Merlin, the boy’s mother, said in an interview with The Root that one attacker used a dangling rope that had held a tire swing. “The older boys had put the ropes around their necks,” she said, adding that they then told her son it was his turn. She said her son “got up on the table and put the rope around his neck, and another kid came up from behind him and pushed him off of the picnic table. And they walked away and left him there hanging.”
The Claremont police chief, Mark T. Chase, has said his department was investigating but he could not discuss any details because everyone involved was under 14 and protected by confidentiality laws.
The family and local activists have criticized police, saying they should have responded more aggressively. Ms. Slattery, the boy’s grandmother, told news outlets that police initially told her daughter that the episode was an accident.
Activists have also criticized the chief for a statement he made in a Sept. 7 interview with NH1, a statewide news network, when he said of the juvenile suspects: “These people need to be protected.”
Chief Chase added: “Mistakes they make as a young child should not have to follow them for the rest of their life.”
Angela Helm, writing in The Root, said the chief was more concerned about the perpetrators, “all but forgetting about the trauma of a little boy.”
On social media, the story and images of the boy’s wounded neck set off a firestorm of demands for information and a speedier investigation
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Chief Chase said he understood that the community and the nation wanted more information about the episode, which was first reported Sept. 5 by the Valley News. He said he was sorry he could not provide it but that his department was taking the investigation seriously.
“Claremont Police detectives assigned to this case are taking all steps possible to investigate the incident and have been doing so since the police became involved in this matter in late August,” he said.
On Tuesday, Gov. Christopher Sununu instructed the state attorney general to assist Claremont police in the investigation. “It is my expectation that local and state authorities will investigate appropriately and I’ve asked for regular updates on how things are proceeding,” he said in a statement. “Hatred and bigotry will not be tolerated in New Hampshire.”
The attorney general, Gordon J. MacDonald, announced that the Department of Justice had contacted the Claremont Police Department and the Sullivan County Attorney’s Office regarding the matter. “To the extent that there is any credible information that this incident constituted a hate crime or a civil rights violation under New Hampshire law, the office is prepared to take any and all appropriate action,” he said.
Calls and emails to the police and the attorney general’s office were not immediately answered on Wednesday.
In recent months, there have been sporadic reports of racially tinged incidents throughout northern New England.
On Monday, Jasper Hill Farm in rural northern Vermont posted a photo on social media showing a swastika that had been spray-painted on its barn. Earlier this year, police in at least four cities in Maine received reports of fliers promoting the Ku Klux Klan.
Trackback from your site.