TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – Two white men in Toledo, Ohio, have been charged with a federal hate crime in the beating of a black man.
Authorities say the men drove past the black man who was unloading his truck outside his home on May 18; then circled back, got out of their truck, and attacked him while yelling racial slurs. They say 33-year-old Charles Butler grabbed a broom from the man’s truck and hit him with it multiple times.
Federal authorities say two off-duty police officers and two other people broke up the attack. Federal and local authorities say the attack was based solely on race.
The federal charges were announced Friday. Butler and 25-year-old Robert Paschalis (pas-KAL’-is) were being held Saturday in Lucas County’s jail. No attorney information was listed in jail records.
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