Posted on 06/07/2003 11:27:58 AM PDT by FourPeas
GR man charged with ethnic intimidation Saturday, June 07, 2003 By Theresa D. Mcclellan
A Grand Rapids man with a record of property crimes faces felony charges of ethnic intimidation and felonious assault. Ronald Lee Planck, 33, appeared Friday in a video arraignment before District Court Magistrate Fred Hartley. He remains in the Kent County Jail on a $75,000 bond. Planck is charged with two counts of felonious assault and two counts of ethnic intimidation in connection with a Tuesday incident on Grand Rapids' West Side. Witnesses told police Planck hurled racial epithets at neighborhood youths and allegedly tried to run them down. In the process, he struck a parked car. "The investigation and witnesses can show ... that this was not just an accidental event. People had to jump on retaining walls and cars," Grand Rapids Police Lt. Paul Warwick said. Bernice Clark, a friend of Planck, told The Press she initially was driving the car minutes before the altercation escalated. Eventually, her boyfriend took the wheel. She claims Planck hit the parked car trying to get out of a situation in which he was under attack. "They were calling me white trash," Clark said. "Can I press charges on them?" The incident started Tuesday in the 200 block of National Avenue NW. Clark said she was driving to a friend's home on that street near Jackson Street and missed the house. While backing up her Mustang, two teens on the street yelled at them, calling them names, she said. Planck got out and confronted them, she said. She said both parties used slurs. Clark said Planck followed the teens and was met with about 10 angry youths with bats and sticks. She claims Planck threw away his weapon and walked away when someone hit him from behind. Once he was on the ground, Clark said young people surrounded him, beating and kicking him. "He had a footprint on his chest," Clark said. "When Ronnie got up, he was a bloody mess. He was delusional and could hardly walk." She said he ran to the car and hit a parked car as he was escaping. But the alleged victims and other neighborhood witnesses told The Press and the police that Planck purposely tried to hit them -- nearly missing some children -- as he used racial epithets. Court records show that Planck is a habitual offender. In 1988, he was charged with breaking and entering and larceny in Kent County, and in 1990 with escaping from the Ionia County Jail.
The Grand Rapids Press
Ahh the glory of diversity. Before you could only find roving gangs of assaulting youth in the third world.
Somehow, I get the impression that Planck wasn't entirely blameless.
Yes. Unless, of course, you're a liberal, then it's call teaching tolerance.
That's the impression I got, too, but the charges seem rather one-sided. I notice that there's no reporting of whether Planck had the injuries described by his girlfriend. From her statements, there should be signifigant signs of a beating on Planck.
I'm just glad I'm not the cop who had to sort this mess out.
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