Protests following a disturbing and racist incident partially captured on video have prompted Indiana police to begin an investigation, authorities said Monday. The reported incident involves a Black man from Bloomington who was allegedly pinned to a tree, beaten, and threatened with a “noose” by a group of white men after being accused of trespassing on private property on July 4.
Vauhxx Booker, an activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, recalled the horrific incident in which he was "almost the victim of an attempted lynching" at the hands of five drunk white men in a Facebook post on July 5. "At one point during the attack one of the men jumped on my neck," Booker wrote. "I could feel both his feet and his full bodyweight land hard against my neck."
The post, which has since gone viral, included video footage of the men holding Booker against a tree while telling the person filming to leave. Additionally, the men yelled “choice slurs” and phrases like “white power,” while one was described as wearing a hat with a Confederate flag. While some racial slurs can be heard in the video, a man who allegedly yelled “get a noose” and threatened to break Booker’s arms was not captured on video, Booker wrote.
Unaware of whether or not he was trespassing on his way to a public lake, Booker said he apologized before the men attacked him. “We were simply looking forward to a night of enjoying nature’s awesome beauty,” Booker said in the Facebook post. He added that he suffered bruises and a mild concussion.
According to CBS News, Booker called 911 following the incident and received help from bystanders who witnessed the incident. While police from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) were dispatched, no arrests were made, the Indianapolis Star reported. When asked about the incident the Department of Natural Resources confirmed it received a call regarding a battery "on private property adjacent to Monroe Reservoir property” and added that the department’s law enforcement is investigating the matter. "We were calm and polite, but looking back now, it's apparent that these individuals began targeting our group the moment they saw myself, a Black man and were looking to provoke a conflict," Booker wrote in the post.
Following Booker’s Facebook post, dozens came together in front of the Bloomington courthouse Monday to protest and demand justice. During the peaceful protest a red car hit two demonstrators, WTTV reported. Witnesses told the news outlet that two protesters were seen on the hood of the car, then flung off when the driver accelerated and turned. “As a person of color in this community, this terrified me,” Rosie Maharjan, a protester at Monday’s demonstration, told The Washington Post. “I always felt safe in Bloomington because it’s one of the more liberal areas of Indiana, and it just shows that it’s absolutely not. There’s dangerous white supremacists even here.”
Bloomington city officials, including Mayor John Hamilton and City Clerk Nicole Bolden, issued a joint statement Monday in which they announced they would be working with the county prosecutor to seek justice in the case. The post acknowledged “the persistence of racism and bias in our country and our own community,” in addition to reiterating the incident and highlighting that Booker was “physically assaulted and denounced and threatened with racial epithets” on “Indiana state park land at Lake Monroe.”
Katharine Liell, Booker’s lawyer, called for an FBI investigation of the incident on the basis of a hate crime and noted the incident was “clearly racially motivated” during a press conference this week. A spokeswoman for the FBI confirmed to The New York Times Wednesday that the agency would be investigating the incident, but did not provide any further comment.