Teen Says He Was Dragged With Noose On Neck
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Alleged Noose Attack
A local teen is recovering after he says a noose was placed around his neck and he was dragged.
NBC 4
A local teen is recovering after he says a noose was placed around his neck and he was dragged in a case of alleged ethnic intimidation.
MOUNT VERNON, Ohio—A local teen is recovering after he said a noose was placed around his neck and he was dragged in a case of alleged ethnic intimidation.
NBC 4 reported with the FAST FACTS.
Robert Cantu said four people put a noose around his neck and dragged him from the sidewalk on South Main Street to an adjacent parking lot in May 2008.
“These guys were in the back of a truck with a noose and they jumped out and said, ‘Get the black kids’ and they all ran and then they said, ‘Get the spic.‘ So they jumped on me, pulled me down and put the noose on me,“ said Robert, who is a Latino.
Robert’s mother, Marcie Cantu, said they also told her son they were going to take him to a park to hang him.
Two of Robert’s friends and a passerby rescued the 17-year-old, Robert’s mom said.
She said they saved her son’s life.
“They would have killed him. They would have killed him. There’s no doubt in my mind,“ she said.
Assistant Prosecutor Charles T. McConville is handling the case said one person has been charged with ethnic intimidation.
He said it’s the first ethnic intimidation charge that anyone can remember in Knox County.
He wouldn’t comment further on the case because it’s an ongoing investigation.
A trial was scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday for suspect Dale Cline. Judge Ronk will preside over the court.
Marcie told NBC 4 McConville said Cline was expected to plead guilty.
Marcie said the incident is the second hate crime against her son. Last year, someone captured the beating of Robert on a cell phone.
She said her family has endured prejudice since they’ve lived in Mount Vernon.
The Cantu family said they want to bring attention to the issue so that hate crime will be taken seriously. They’ve contacted the anti-defamation league.
Marcie wanted to know why the charge isn’t attempted murder or assault and why others haven’t been charged.
She said more victims of ethnic violence need to speak up to prevent the same from happening to others.
“The police department doesn’t do anything, and if I would have done that to someone else, like a white kid, I would be in jail right now,“ Robert said.
The Mount Vernon police continued to investigate.
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Reader Reactions
The saddest part of this are the comments… A kid gets a noose around his neck and called an ethnic slur, and what comments predominate?
-His story sounds phony
-He probably started it
-Maybe he should move
Ah, central Ohio… sometime it truly boggles my mind that Obama was successful here, given the hillbilly mindset of so many of our residents.
So there just happens to be a truck full of guys with a noose and they just happened to find all of these kids together and decide to jump them for no apparent reason other than a possible hate crime? That is one side of the story, what I am picturing is a group of teens being cool and provoking the wrong person or people. But we only heard one side of the story, what led up to this?
The Cantu family reported that the suspects were not immediately arrested and that the one suspect charged was not held in jail pending trial. Mrs. Cantu said there was no bail or bond. Just a clarification.
If some local idiots really did this, they should get the book thrown at them. That being said, can we address the victim mentality and the griping from this kid and his mom?
“The police department doesn’t do anything, and if I would have done that to someone else, like a white kid, I would be in jail right now,“
Uhm, Roberto, they arrested a guy and he’s going on trial TOMORROW, dopey. So it looks like by “doesn’t do anything” you mean they found and arrested a suspect. And if he didn’t make bail, he was “in jail right now”.
Can people stop teaching their kids to hate the country, the police, the courts, etc?
Nahhhhh, let’s all just cry that the system doesn’t work and the deck’s stacked against us etc, etc. Good grief, someone’s going to court within 2 and a half weeks of the commission of the crime. That’s a heck of a lot zippier than you’ll see down here in Columbus.
I have a great solution to their problem. Instead using their son as a pawn to lure in the anti-defamation league so they can whine about something that, judging by the size of the kid, could have possibly been provoked. Maybe they should consider moving. If it were me, that would be #1 on my list. Mt Vernon is not a big town by any stretch of the imagination. Never take stories like this at face value. Do you’re homework before you allow yourselves to be offended and have your feelings hurt.
What has the boys hair have to do with him being picked on? I guarantee that your mother would not have forced you to wear your hair a certain way when you were 17. The bottom line is that this type of behavior is unacceptable. We are not living in the slave days when this was behavior that was acceptable.
If this boy was dragged by a rope, where are the rope burns around his neck? Shouldn’t he have some kind of marks visible? It just doesn’t add up…I’m not saying nothing didn’t happen to this boy, but we should be able to see something in the picture…Is this an old picture?
Is it just me, something doesn’t seem right with this boy’s story? I’ve fallen on pavement before and got more than a scrape but to be dragged with a rope around my neck? The injuries just don’t add up to this violent of a story. Never the less we must stress - ZERO tolerance for hate crimes!
Story doesn’t say when the event happen. If it happen during the day they have an even bigger problem in that town that needs to be delt with. Harsh harsh punishment for all 4 involved not just one!
This ‘bias-motivated crime’ has caused another exampe of how hate crimes have shaped and sometimes defined world history. In the United States, racial and religious biases have inspired most hate crimes. Uh, for hundreds of years now…
Therefore, our laws must STILL be strengthened to provide clear recognition of the gravity of hate crimes and the compelling importance of preventing their recurrence.
As for the four the four people with the noose, it was definitely a case where it had to have been pre-meditatedly conceived…
I simply find and declare that the alledged hate crime in which was committed, should most definitely be prosecuted and punished with appropriate severity. If it is proven in the court of law…of the soon-to-be defendants in the case, are guilty, I hope the Judge of the court will throw more than a severe sentence.
It is just inhumane to hear of any of the several and similar kinds of results, from the likeness of the alledged actions reported. The idiotical and despicable 4 perpetrators and their contempt for the victim… just wrong… Sad.
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