911 calls show terror caused by mob rampage in Charleston, South Carolina
Source: postandcourier.com
 A concerned resident got a photo of black teens running through the streets of downtown Charleston early Sunday morning. |
The number is bigger than initially estimated, and 911 calls released Tuesday show some of the terror they caused.
A young woman called 911 to report the chaos outside her apartment at Vanderhorst and Coming streets.
“There’s like 50 black kids outside, and they’re getting into a fight,” she told the operator. “Oh, my God, there’s blood everywhere. ... Look at all that blood.”
Another young woman called to say she was standing at the intersection.
“They’re just in the street screaming and yelling,” she said. “I want to say 60 people.”
Terror could be heard in the voices of many of the callers, including a man who called from his car and said he was being blocked by about 50 black teens.
“They just smacked my car,” he told the operator. “I’m flooring it in reverse. This is just ridiculous. ... I’m getting the hell out of here, man. They just smacked another car. They’ve got a dude down.”
He said a group was beating the man.
“They’ve got a dude down on the ground,” he said. “There’s like five of them punching the dude. ... There’s a guy taunting me. I couldn’t make the green light because he was standing in the intersection taunting me. It’s pretty terrifying, man.”
Officers said they were so overwhelmed by calls they couldn’t handle all them. They wrote up reports for three assaults, a purse snatching and a robbery. One teen was arrested Monday, and more arrests are possible.
Photos show teens running, pounding cars, looking for prey.
 Jordan Hall Al Cannon Detention Center |
Elder James Johnson, who was at the forefront of protests after Scott’s death, said he had not heard any explanation for the teens’ behavior.
“The Walter Scott incident is fresh in their minds, and then there’s Baltimore,” he said. “But there’s no telling. It could be just spur of the moment. I’m hoping we can find out. Whatever it is, we’ve got to go to the root of the problem so it doesn’t happen again.”
The teens came out of a party at the YWCA on Coming Street around 12:30 a.m. and hit the streets. Groups not associated with the YWCA rent the facility.
The motto of the YWCA is “Empowering Women and Eliminating Racism.” The organization sponsors the annual local celebration of Martin Luther King Jr., who preached non-violence.
Garcia Williams, the YWCA’s director, did not return several messages asking if she had learned anything about why the teens broke out in violence after the party, nor who organized the party. Dot Scott, the leader of the Charleston branch of the NAACP, also did not answer messages.
One teen was arrested Monday. Jordan Q. Hall, 17, of Chapel Street, a ninth-grader at Burke High School, faces two counts of second-degree assault and battery by mob. The felony charge is punishable by three to 25 years in prison.
The elevated charge is related to a mob causing “serious bodily injury,” according to the S.C. Code of Laws.
Police said Hall and a group of unknown black teens beat two men in the face while the victims were walking along Vanderhorst Street. One man’s nose was broken, causing severe bleeding, according to the incident report.
Another victim was diagnosed with a facial fracture near his left eye and suffered swelling and bruising to his head after Hall repeatedly struck him with closed fists, according to the arrest affidavit. He identified Hall in a six-person photographic lineup.
Judge Linda Lombard noted that Hall has a serious criminal history and set his bail at $100,000. He had no family present at the bond hearing.
State law treats mob violence seriously.
Under the heading “Lynching,” it details the three degrees of crime and punishment, which range from up to a year in prison to a minimum of 30 years in the case of a victim’s death.
A “mob” is defined as two or more people who act together for the premeditated purpose of committing an act of violence.
The law instructs law enforcement and the solicitor in the jurisdiction to “act as speedily as possible to apprehend and identify the members of the mob and bring them to trial.”
The statute grants the solicitor “summary power to conduct any investigation deemed necessary in order to apprehend the members of a mob.” The solicitor can subpoena witnesses and take testimony under oath.
Source: postandcourier.com
