Evidence presented in the trial of a murder suspect who killed a black man in June 2013 by running him over with a Chevy S-10 suggests the killing was racially motivated, according to the Sacramento County Prosecutor.
Videotape of suspect Joseph Paul Leonard was played in Sacramento Superior Court Thursday, corroborating testimony from a detective who detailed the bizarre and violent behavior that led to the death of 34-year-old Toussaint Harrison.
From Think Progress:
On an early June morning last year, a white man named Joseph Paul Leonard walked out of a McDonald’s, and then he “went crazy and lost his temper” at two black men who were passing out food to nearby homeless people, according to testimony from a police detective. The detective testified that Leonard took a chain from the back of his truck and began swinging it at the black men, and this testimony was corroborated by a videotape taken by the McDonald’s showing the two black men backing away while Leonard swung the chain over his head “lasso style.”
The video shows Leonard getting in his truck, driving off, and then returning with the chain in his hands once again. At one point, he stomps on a bicycle ridden by one of the two black men, a man named Toussaint Harrison. The two black men reportedly tried to defend themselves by throwing a knife and another, unidentified object at Leonard, injuring his cheek and his midsection. They eventually fled the scene.
That’s when Leonard chased after them in his truck, according to the Sacramento Bee. Evidence at Leonard’s trial “showed that he burned 23 feet of rubber before he smashed his 1997 green Chevy S-10 into Harrison.” As Harrison was bleeding on the pavement, Leonard reportedly exited his truck and kicked Harrison multiple times in his head while wearing steel-toed boots.
Harrison died two days after the assault at UC Davis Medical Center.
The second victim, Justin Oliphant, told detectives that the suspect used a racial slur during the attack. In fact, video of Leonard, taken after his arrest as he was sitting in the back of a police cruiser, may have solidified the prosecutors’ statement that the attack was racially motivated.
“Just because we got Obama for a president,” Leonard says on the video, “these people think they are real special.”
Yes, Leonard placed the blame on President Obama.
In addition to murder charges, the 62-year-old suspect faces attempted murder charges for trying to run over Oliphant.
Leonard will testify in his own behalf when the trial resumes Nov. 17.
SOURCE: Think Progress, Sacramento Bee | PHOTO CREDIT: Police Department
