Man wants charges dropped, prosecutor off case

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (WISH) — The antheral astatine the halfway of a July 4, 2020, onslaught adjacent Lake Monroe connected Monday called for his transgression charges to beryllium dropped and the peculiar authoritative to measurement down.

Vauhxx Booker was charged Friday successful Monroe Circuit Court 2 with artillery and transgression trespassing.

Booker claims to person been the unfortunate of a hatred transgression adjacent Lake Monroe. Since then, the men Booker claims to person attacked him, Sean Purdy and Jerry Edward Cox, person been charged successful the attack. Each look charges including transgression confinement, battery, and intimidation. Now much than a twelvemonth later, a peculiar authoritative has charged Booker with artillery and transgression trespassing successful transportation to the incident.

“Now, it has taken the outrageous measurement of charging Booker, the victim, arsenic a felon. He faces up to 3½ years successful situation and $15,000 successful fines for being subjected to a racist assault,” said Guy Loftman, an lawyer with the Monroe County Branch NAACP.

The archetypal probe by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources did telephone for charges to beryllium filed against Booker oregon the 2 men helium accused of attacking him.

One of Booker’s attorneys claimed successful a quality league Monday that the communicative that 1 of the men pushed Booker first, past Booker punched him, is impervious that Booker was acting successful self-defense.

News 8 carried the quality league live connected Facebook.

When questioned astir the punch aboriginal successful the quality conference, Booker backtracked and said that the communicative was not existent and that helium did not punch the antheral aft being pushed, but alternatively helium walked distant lone to beryllium attacked from behind.

“This has been humiliating and defeating. I had conscionable moved to a caller city. I was looking guardant to starting a caller job, to moving guardant with my life, and I americium dragged backmost to into this moment. For immoderate folks, it was a twelvemonth ago. For me, it has happened each day,” Booker said.

Booker says the peculiar authoritative assigned to the case, Sonia Leerkamp, is lone pressing the charges against him due to the fact that helium wouldn’t hold to driblet the lawsuit and the charges against the different men and bash a associated quality league with her.

“I don’t attraction if she wants to resistance maine backmost to the hanging histrion herself, I americium not going to backmost down from this. I americium not going to conscionable fto these folks spell connected astir their lives similar they didn’t victimize me, similar their transgression didn’t interaction an full community. I americium going to basal up for myself,” Booker said.

As for the transgression trespassing charges, Booker’s attorneys assertion helium was lone connected backstage spot portion passing done to get to wherever his different friends were; helium says the altercation happened connected nationalist property.

Booker is besides claiming that Natural Resources conservation officers did not travel due protocol erstwhile responding to the country initially, by archetypal talking to the radical of radical Booker accused of attacking him earlier ever coming to speech to Booker, the idiosyncratic who called 911.

“This is systemic racism successful enactment astatine each step. White officers and the achromatic peculiar authoritative springiness achromatic folks the payment of the uncertainty and each of the sympathy,” Loftman said.

Booker and his squad of attorneys accidental they program to situation the charges and are asking for the peculiar authoritative to measurement down.

A tribunal proceeding is scheduled for Sept. 13. Booker’s lawyer says she plans to record for pleadings that would situation the caller charges earlier that date.

Purdy and Cox assertion Booker instigated the incident. They are owed backmost successful Monroe Circuit Court 2 connected Aug 20.