Defendant “Admitted to Wearing the White Hood and Saying the Racial Slur,” but Claimed “He Had Worn the White Hood Because It Was Cold Outside”
From Whitaker-Blakey v. State, decided two weeks ago by Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Rudolph Pyle III, joined by Judges Leanna Weissmann and Paul Felix:
In January 2024, … [police] Officer Phillips …, who is a black woman, parked her unmarked police car in the Muncie City Hall parking lot. Officer Phillips was dressed “business casual” with her “gun and badge on” over her blouse. Officer Phillips exited her car and began walking around the rear of it. Suddenly, a man “popped up” from behind a parked, marked police car in the parking lot about ten feet away from Officer Phillips.
The man was wearing a “white hood” with the “eyes cut out” and had a backpack. While Officer Phillips was looking in the man’s direction, the man stepped closer to her and said the word “nigger[.]” The man did not say anything else to Officer Phillips and did not make any gestures or hand movements towards Officer Phillips. Officer Phillips was the only person in the parking lot with the man.
Officer Phillips “tried to keep an eye on” the man while walking “briskly” into the building. The man started walking away and removed the white hood….
When the man was later found and arrested,
Officers found in Whitaker-Blakey’s possession a white pillowcase with holes cut out for the eyes. During the interview, Whitaker-Blakey admitted to wearing the white hood and saying the racial slur. However, Whitaker-Blakey told Sergeant Winningham that he had worn the white hood because it was cold outside.
Whitaker-Blakey also told Sergeant Winningham that he had not directed the racial slur at Officer Phillips, but instead, had directed the racial slur to other white men across the street. Whitaker-Blakey told Sergeant Winningham that he believed that Officer Phillips possibly was a “CIA operative – FBI – or a detective.” Whitaker-Blakey also told Sergeant Winningham that he had gone to a “meeting” of a white supremacist group and “had more knowledge than [Sergeant Winningham] had of these groups.” Whitaker-Blakey told Sergeant Winningham that he was not a member of a white supremacist group….
Whitaker-Blakey was prosecuted f
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