Posted on 07/14/2020 12:35:21 PM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Nearly three weeks after an alleged racist attack on a biracial woman in Downtown Madison, police and the woman’s family are saying little to nothing about whether the authorities are any closer to identifying the perpetrators.
Althea Bernstein, 18, of Monona, told police she was stopped at a stoplight, possibly on West Gorham Street at State Street, at around 1 a.m. June 24 when she was approached by four white men, one of whom yelled a racial epithet.
One of the men allegedly sprayed her with lighter fluid through her open driver’s-side window and then threw a lit lighter or match at her, setting her face and neck on fire before she patted out the flames.
She described the men as looking like “frat boys” — two of whom were wearing “floral shirts” and blue jeans and two of whom were in all black and wearing masks. The man who allegedly sprayed her was wearing a “salmon-colored” floral shirt, she told police.
Asked for an update on the investigation, police spokesman Joel DeSpain on Monday pointed the Wisconsin State Journal to the online incident report in the case, which was last updated on June 30.
“I will continue to check if additional information can be posted,” DeSpain said.
Acting Madison police chief Vic Wahl said in a statement Wednesday that the investigation “remains an open case and we are actively investigating with the assistance of the FBI.”
A spokeswoman for the Bernstein family, attorney Andrea Love Sumpter, said “law enforcement has been in regular communication” with her and the family.
“I have advised the family against making statements during an ongoing investigation, in order to avoid compromising the hard work of law enforcement officials,” she said in an email.
On Wednesday, she declined to answer questions about the investigation on behalf of the family.
The Los Angeles-based StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism on June 30 announced it was offering a $5,000 reward for information in the case. It came on top of a $5,000 Crime Stoppers reward announced earlier.
Unlike in other unsolved cases, police have not released any images from surveillance cameras that might have recorded the attack or the assailants.
Can’t release photos when the incident is a hoax. And, when does a victim need an attorney? When the victim is not a victim but a hoaxer.
Anyone who has seen her pics knows it’s a hoax. She claims an accelerant was sprayed in her yet she has splotches on her skin. She looks nothing like a burn victim should if she was doused and set on fire.
I’ve seen worse cooking accidents that didn’t require hospitalization.
What does Michael 0bama have to do with it? *SNORT*
Crack pipe explosion is my guess. She was doing something illegal and she thought she could cover up with her Race Card. ;)
Is she related to Tawana Brawley? Maybe she should hire Sharpton the race baiter to do a few marches for her. Like Tawana said: “Nobody minipsminates me or my family”
Some years back, a young woman in (iirc) New Orleans set herself on fire and claimed white supremacists did it. Even FReepers, a tough audience, had trouble believing it was a hoax at first, because she nearly died ... but she was just that dumb.
This young woman does not appear to have been quite that dumb: she just thinks everyone else is.
“whether the authorities are any closer to identifying the perpetrators”
The authorities have already identified the perpetrator (singular), probably seconds after listening to the report of the incident.
“The Los Angeles-based StandWithUs Center for Combating Antisemitism on June 30 announced it was offering a $5,000 reward for information in the case. It came on top of a $5,000 Crime Stoppers reward announced earlier.”
LOL. Think they’ll pay me 10 grand if I tell them that Althea did it and I’m later proven to be correct?
“...patted out the flames.”
My BS meter pegged and broke off right there. There is no “patting out” an accelerant-fueled fire and she would have had 3rd-degree burns.
Jussie? Somebody just gave Dave Chappelle more material.
Second CSI question: "IS there evidence of fire/accelerant damage to the paint, window seals, and/or upholstery on the driver's door, steering wheel, or driver's seat of the car?
TXnMA
The cops are between a rock and a hard place.
They can't release the photos because it would prove she lied. The cops would be crucified for doubting this woman even if they had photos proving she lied.
When news of the Brawley fiasco energed, claiming she was gang raped in the back of a patrol car, the first red flag for me was simple, at the time the Wappingers Falls, NY Police Dept. like the NYPD, the Chicago PD and most other municipalities were using Dodge Diplomats. Those cars had barely enough room in the back seats to haul suspects around in, let alone do the nasty. I’m surprised the ACLU never sued any PDs who used them on the grounds of police brutality.
Keep in mind that this supposedly happened blocks away from where protesters were tossing molotov cocktails. Hmm, did she not hold her bottle upright and drip some fluid on herself before lighting?
This one pegged the needle on my BS-O-Meter. First off, “...told police she was stopped at a stoplight, possibly on West Gorham Street at State Street, at around 1 a.m....” — so she doesn’t know where she was or when it happened?
Second, that was the same night that rioters were knocking over statues, setting crap on fire, and beating up a gay state senator from Milwaukee in that very same area?
The most benign explanation I can come up with is that her crack pipe exploded. (Her teeth are too good for it to have been a meth pipe.) More likely she was trying to set something on fire and got careless.
And now she’s a national celebrity.
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