A hateful crime in Austin

A vicious, needless, senseless attack occurred against a man this past Tuesday night in Austin, Texas, one which possibly included a racial angle and maybe even an illegal immigration component. Dare we even utter the words "hate crime"? But from reading CNN you'd hardly know:

The car in which Morales, 40, was a passenger had entered an apartment complex's parking lot when it struck a 2-year-old boy, Piatt said. The boy was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

It goes on to say the perpetrators were spillovers from the nearby annual Juneteenth celebration but provides no clues on whether racial tensions were involved. Just a simple accident followed by a weird pack mob beating.

Checking the Austin Statesman we find a little bit more clarity (reg required):

By the time an anonymous caller dialed 911 and the first officers arrived at the Booker T. Washington housing development shortly after 9:30 p.m., the crowd had dispersed, Austin police Cmdr. Harold Piatt said.

The plot thickens. Further reading clears (or muddies depending on your perspective) the picture a bit more:

Hispanic and African American leaders, fearing that the incident would create racial tension because the victim was Hispanic and the assailants were believed to be black, urged people to keep their emotions in check. Investigators said they have no indication that the attack was racially motivated.

Well of course not! The child was most likely black, the perpetrators most likely black and the victim Hispanic and possibly even illegal (?). So, are we to assume the Austin Police think this kind of thing is just standard operating practice in their city--that anytime someone hits a child (or is even riding in the car that hits the child) they are immediately handed frontier justice by the nearest available mob? Sorry, but when the official spokesmen sounds less truthful than Baghdad Bob it just might be a clue.

The article goes on to say how community leaders on both sides are trying to calm the storm, which is good and no doubt sincere. But there are questions. Assuming Mr. Morales was an illegal and assuming this story gets any national airplay it might introduce a new twist into the illegal immigration reform debate. We've not heard from the minority grassroots on the issue, have we?

As to whether this qualifies as a hate crime (removing the immigration angle) it seems to, but maybe the law isn't clear on whether minorities can commit hate crimes on each other. Or if prosecuted as such (or not) whether it might spark more angry mobs. It sounds like a real can of worms therefore it wouldn't be surprising to see this story fade away soon.

MORE 6/21/07

My Way chimes in, but provides no more information than did CNN.

UPDATE 6/21/07

Fox News is on the story, giving us this interesting explanation:

Morales came to his aid and was fatally attacked in what police are calling a "spontaneous homicide."

Kind of goes without saying. The point is whether it was a spontaneous hate crime because the man was Mexican.

ONE MORE 6/21/07

Getting older sometimes produces an occasional bout of CRS (look it up). Case in point--I forgot to paste the original CNN article up above. Too late, because they've updated the story now:

About three or four people -- not a mob of 20 -- beat a man to death after the car he was riding in struck and injured a toddler, police said Thursday.

They also said it was unrelated to the Juneteenth celebration. OK, but that causes another problem. The earlier story said it took over 30 minutes to get Mr. Morales to the hospital because police did not allow the ambulance to enter the area before it was "secured". Maybe this will now raise the interest level in the story.