A black civil right activist who allegedly endured an assault from racist white men who wanted to ‘get a noose’ faces criminal charges – more than a year after charges against the attackers.

Vauhxx Booker, of southern Indiana, was charged with trespassing and battery, a misdemeanor and felony, respectively, in connection to a July 4, 2020, incident at Lake Monroe, The Guardian reported. Five men, one of whom wore a Confederate flag hat and shouted slurs and ‘white power’, reportedly pinned Booker to a tree.

When Booker broke free, he called the police, but matters for him only got worse.

In retaliation, the white men allegedly accused Booker of trespassing private property. The men claim Booker apologized, but the situation got physical.

Booker said one of the men planned to break his arm and ‘get a noose’.

Witnesses who were with Booker recalled the slurs being used and were told to ‘leave the boy here, we will take care of him’. 

The incident was recorded on a cellphone and shared on social media.

The FBI is investigating possible hate crimes involving the alleged attackers and a determination has yet to be made.

Two of the five men, Sean Purdy and Jerry Cox II, were charged in the incident. Purdy faces charges of felony criminal confinement, battery resulting in moderate bodily injury and intimidation. Meanwhile, Cox II faces felony charges for criminal confinement and battery resulting in moderate bodily injury, as well as two misdemeanors.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that represents Monroe County condemned the special prosecutor, Sonia Leerkamp, for charging Booker last Friday, saying it is ‘outrageous act of punitive retaliation and prosecutorial vindictiveness’.

The NAACP is calling for Leerkamp to resign, the Guardian reported.

‘This incident has been a continual case of a victim being re-victimized by the system,’ Booker’s legal team said in statement on Monday.

‘It is the victim in this assault – Vauhxx Booker – who is being made to pay for having stood his ground against malicious racist name-calling, physical assault, and threats against his life.’

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