The assault took put early Wednesday early morning when the girl was driving and stopped at a red mild and “read another person yell out a racial epithet,” in accordance to a law enforcement incident report.
The lady is not named in the report, but a spouse and children spokesperson identified her as Althea Bernstein, a higher education college student and a volunteer EMT.
“She appeared and noticed 4 gentlemen, all white. She says one made use of a spray bottle to deploy a liquid on her facial area and neck, and then threw a flaming lighter at her, resulting in the liquid to ignite,” go through the report, which was submitted in excess of the cellular phone.
Bernstein then “patted out the flames, and at some point drove home,” the report explained. “Her mom encouraged her to go to a medical center.”
Later on Wednesday, Bernstein referred to as 911 to report the incident, in accordance to Michael Johnson, the spouse and children spokesperson and president and CEO of Boys and Women Club of Dane County.
“As soon as it occurred I never even remember nearly anything, but your brain continue to has that battle or flight reaction that can take treatment of you,” Bernstein explained to ABC’s “Excellent Morning The us,” including that she drove herself to the unexpected emergency place.
Bernstein has melt away marks on her deal with and neck discomfort from the incident, Johnson claimed.
Police are performing on acquiring permission to access Bernstein’s medical center data, according to Madison police spokesperson Joel DeSpain. Investigators are also wanting at surveillance photos to see if the incident was captured on digicam.
“Our section thinks victims, and we acquire their statement and then carefully investigate what they explained transpired to them,” DeSpain advised CNN Friday. “We believe that this sufferer, and we are likely to get the job done with her and evaluate all the online video we can obtain.”
Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway produced a statement saying the incident was “a horrifying and absolutely unacceptable crime that I will not tolerate in Madison.”
“Even though we are however learning a lot more about the specifics, present-day facts indicates this might have been a premeditated criminal offense qualified towards folks of colour, which would make the incident even extra disturbing,” Rhodes-Conway claimed. “I straight away reached out to the police when I learned of the incident, asking them to use all available resources to pursue the perpetrators as swiftly as doable.”
CNN’s Raja Razek and Jaide Timm-Garcia contributed to this report.
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