A 26-year-old Ohio man who was caught on video punching a Black woman in the face and yelling racial slurs was charged with two counts of assault and one count of possessing weapons while intoxicated during a hearing in Akron Municipal Court Thursday, WKYC reports.
Akron police say Andrew Walls, who is allegedly a member of the far-right group Proud Boys, assaulted Cameron Morgan, 23, on Feb. 28 outside of a bar. But according to Morgan’s attorney, David Betras, the attack will not be classified as a hate crime.
“The system is just failing my poor victim, but that’s OK, we have a civil case going and we’ll make sure the civil court do what obviously the city attorney in Akron can’t do,” said Betras.
"That a person who belongs to the Proud Boys called my client a racial name and then punched her in the face and somehow they are treating this like an ordinary assault case, nobody should be happy," Betras said. "If you don't make an example of this case, it will lead to more things, and that's what's aggravating."
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Akron Chief Prosecutor Craig Morgan says that Ohio does not have a hate crime law similar to the federal one, and Walls' actions did not qualify for being charged under Ohio's ethnic intimidation law.
Morgan says he has been "zealously trying to coordinate" with county and federal authorities to consider hate crime charges against Walls.