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Autistic Black teen attacked by White man who claims he was ‘scared’ for his wife

Chase T. Austin, 15, is a high school student-athlete with autism who was running a cross-country race for Corcoran High School in Rochester, New York, earlier this month. During the race, an unidentified White male stopped his car and pushed Coleman to the ground. According to witness statements, the man began yelling at Coleman to “Get out of here.” A short time later, police were able to catch up to the man who assaulted Coleman to get his side of the story.

Coleman was running on the road and the man claimed to have been fearful for the safety of his wife who was riding with him in the car. So the man stopped the car and assaulted Coleman because he was afraid the teen was going to steal his wife’s purse. The man claimed that his car was broken into earlier and the memory of that incident caused him to confront the teen, who is non-verbal because of his autism. The attacker did not realize this when he was shouting at Coleman from his moving car before the assault. An officer took a report and the suspect was released. Last week, the Monroe County District Attorney’s Office informed Coleman and his parents that Judge Caroline Morrison of Rochester City Court denied the warrant application for the arrest of the suspect for charges of second-degree harassment.

Chase’s mother, Clarise Coleman, stated to the media, “They are treating him like a third-class citizen. He has the double whammy, he’s Black and has a disability. So it’s not important, that’s what Rochester is telling me.”

Susan Boyle of the Syracuse Common Council became aware of the situation and contacted Rochester District Attorney Sandra Doorley for answers in the incident. In a letter, Boyle asked why a warrant was not issued. The letter stated in part: “To be lost due to a racist, aggressive, unprovoked attack on an African American minor with absolutely no consequences is, for lack of a stronger word, unacceptable.”

The letter requested an explanation why the action should go unpunished, stating: “Chase Coleman deserves an answer, the parents, teachers, coaches and teammates who have worked so hard to build Chase up to a place where he feels safe and accepted …. deserve an explanation and The Syracuse City School District deserves an explanation and an assurance that all of our City School District students will be protected under the law while visiting Rochester, NY.”

http://rollingout.com/2016/10/31/autistic-black-teen-running-race-attacked-scared-white-man/

A female witness, identified as Collin Thompson, told police that she saw Chase running in the middle of the road. She said an older white man got out of the car and approached Chase and pushed him to the ground, yelling “Get out of here,” the Post reports.

Another witness, Kris Van Metter, told Syracuse.com that he had just finished his bicycle ride when he saw the same thing.

“I see a grown man, who is quite tall and fairly heavy … exit the vehicle and give this young man a shove that puts him back 10 feet and flat on his butt,” Van Metter told the news site. “Like, just shoved him across the road. The kid didn’t seem to be doing anything but standing there, obviously had nothing in his hands and weighed all of 130 pounds. This guy was easily twice that.”

Both witnesses got the man’s license plate number, and police were able to track down 57-year-old Martin MacDonald who lives in a suburb of Rochester.

MacDonald admitted to pushing Chase to the ground, according to a police report.

“When asked him why he did that, he replied that he thought Chase was going to mug his wife and take her purse,” the incident report read, according to the Post. “MacDonald’s wife was sitting in the front passenger seat at the time of the . When asked him why he thought that, MacDonald told him that some youths had broke into his car recently and that crossed his mind. MacDonald went on to say that Chase wasn’t responding to him telling him to move out of the road.”

http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2016/10/autistic-black-teen-got-lost-running-a-5k-was-assaulted-by-man-who-was-afraid-of-getting-mugged/