Photo: Harry Wedzinga / iStock / Getty Images
A white woman who raised over $800,000 after she was caught on video hurling a racist slur at a Black child is now facing charges.
On Tuesday (August 26), Minnesota prosecutors filed three misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges against the woman who confronted an eight-year-old boy and called him the N-word multiple times on a playground in Rochester, per NBC News.
The boy, who is autistic, had allegedly grabbed an applesauce pouch from another family’s diaper bag and tried to escape on the playground structure. The woman followed him and took the pouch back.
When another parkgoer questioned her behavior, the woman admitted to using the slur. The woman again hurled racist language toward the man, cursed at him, and flipped him off.
The child’s father said his son “doesn’t understand typical social boundaries” and requires constant supervision due to his disability.
The woman used the viral backlash from the incident to solicit donations on GiveSendGo, claiming to be the victim of “silly misinformation.” Her fundraising goal was $1 million, and she’s raised more than $800,000.
“Keep standing up for yourselves, and keep fighting for the First Amendment!” she wrote in a June update.
According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, the woman “wrongfully and unlawfully engaged in offensive, obscene, abusive, boisterous, or noisy conduct, or in offensive, obscene, or abusive language that would reasonably tend to arouse alarm, anger or resentment in others.”
The charges each carry a maximum of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Her arraignment is scheduled for October 29.
“This was a situation that deeply affected many people, especially our communities of color,” Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said. “We acknowledge the lasting impact this incident has had … in the broader conversations happening at the state and national level.”
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