PARIS, Texas, Oct. 24, 2008
Dragging Death Raises Tensions In Texas
Black Man Killed Underneath Pickup Truck; Two White Men Charged With Murder
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Jacquline McClelland poses with a photo of her son Brandon McClelland, Oct. 24, 2008, in Paris, Texas. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)
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Black activists and the victim's mother are calling last month's killing of 24-year-old Brandon McClelland a racist attack. But prosecutors cast strong doubt on that Friday.
McClelland died after going with two white friends on a late-night beer run across the state line to Oklahoma, investigators said. Authorities said he was run over and dragged as far as 70 feet beneath the truck. His torn-apart body was discovered along a bloodstained rural road on Sept. 16. His mother said pieces of his skull could still be found three days later.
The case has raised racial tensions in Paris, a town of 26,000 with a history of fraught relations between blacks and whites.
To some, it sounded like the Byrd case, in which a black man in the East Texas town of Jasper, about 200 miles south of Paris, was chained by the ankles to the back of a pickup by three white supremacists and dragged for three miles. Two of the killers are now on death row; the third is serving a life sentence.
Prosecutors in the McClelland case said they are looking into whether one of the defendants, Shannon Keith Finley, was in a white supremacist gang while in prison for killing a friend.
But they said they have seen no evidence so far that McClelland's slaying was racially motivated. And they noted the three men had been friends for years.
"This is a group of guys who had black friends and white friends," said Allan Hubbard, a spokesman for the Lamar County district attorney's office. He added: "Any comparison to Jasper and James Byrd is preposterous."
Autopsy results are expected back next week. While investigators don't believe McClelland was tied to the truck, they planned to look closely for marks on the body that would indicate precisely how he was dragged.
Community activist Brenda Cherry said authorities have not seriously considered the possibility this was a hate crime. "There's a problem in Paris, Texas," she said. "I don't see a difference in getting dragged behind a truck and getting dragged under a truck."
A flier advertising a Saturday memorial service for McClelland said he was "the victim of a brutal and racist hate crime." The New Black Panthers met with investigators and held a news conference at the courthouse promising to examine the killing.
"I truly feel that race played a part in it," said the victim's mother, Jacquline McClelland. "It is a racist town, and Paris has always been a racist town."
The city is perhaps best known for its 70-foot Eiffel Tower replica topped by a giant red cowboy hat. Paris, which is 73 percent white and 22 percent black, was in the news last year after a black girl was sentenced to up to seven years in a juvenile prison hundreds of miles from her home for shoving a teacher's aide at school, while a white girl was sentenced by the same judge to probation for burning down her parents' house.
At the town square, decorated with pumpkins and hay bales for Halloween, the mother of the black girl said Friday that she began to feel Paris was a racist town after moving there from Oklahoma.
"There's a certain amount of fear that is pressed into black people when they live in Paris," said Creola Cotton.
According to court papers, Finley and Charles Ryan Crostley, both 27, told police they left the dry town to get beer in Oklahoma, and on the way back, the three men, all apparently drunk, argued about who was sober enough to drive. McClelland, an unmarried maintenance worker, decided to walk home, taking some beer with him, the men told police.
But Finley's estranged wife and one of his friends said they had been told by the two defendants that Finley began to bump McClelland with the front of his truck until McClelland fell, and Finley drove over him, according to court papers. Crostley and Finley then allegedly drove to a car wash to clean off the blood.
Crostley and Finley are jailed on charges of murder and evidence-tampering. Finley's attorney did not immediately return a message. There was no answer at the phone listing for Crostley's lawyer.
As in many small towns, some of the players are connected. The district attorney, Gary Young, was once the court-appointed lawyer for Finley, who was charged with murder in 2003. Finley eventually pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four years.
In that same case, McClelland pleaded guilty to perjury for providing a false alibi for Finley. He was sentenced to five years' probation but served some jail time when he violated its terms, prosecutor Bill Harris said.
McClelland's mother said that on the day her son died, he had called Finley to ask for his help on a home repair project at another friend's house.
"For the life of me, I cannot understand it," she said. "They didn't have to run over and kill my baby. They could have brought him home."
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See all 102 CommentsThat has nothing to do with the fact that he ran over Him!
Husbands, Wives, Siblings, Cousins Grandparents, were usually once friends.
They still kill each other! Friends are The first "Police Suspects!
What if the "Black had killed his "White Friend".
Would the Friendship Be a "Relevant Question? ("NO").
This is the "PRESS" being as Racist as the state of TEXAS, and participating in, and facilitating a Ridiculous Smoke Screen!
The Black Man who Ran of the Bridge in a Rain Storm down their,
Lost half his family to the River, Gets Mistreated, Criminally Charged!
In any State if you kill someone with your car while Intoxicated,
The charge is "Murder".
The DEATH BELT states are "Notorious" for "Prosecuting" the innocent,
(SILLY PUTTY MOMS) while ensuring the "Guilty" with (BODIES IN SUITCASES)
"GET OFF SCOTT FREE".
That has nothing to do with the fact that he ran over Him!
Husbands, Wives, Siblings, Cousins Grandparents, were usually once friends.
They still kill each other! Friends are The first "Police Suspects!
What if the "Black had killed his "White Friend".
Would the Friendship Be a "Relevant Question? ("NO").
This is the "PRESS" being as Racist as the state of TEXAS, and participating in, and facilitating a Ridiculous Smoke Screen!
The Black Man who Ran of the Bridge in a Rain Storm down their,
Lost half his family to the River, Gets Mistreated, Criminally Charged!
In any State if you kill someone with your car while Intoxicated,
The charge is "Murder".
The DEATH BELT states are "Notorious" for "Prosecuting" the innocent,
(SILLY PUTTY MOMS) while ensuring the "Guilty" with (BODIES IN SUITCASES)
"GET OFF SCOTT FREE".
texasisbetter
I''ve lived in Texas my whole life and that whole post is hogwash...You know it''s true so quit lying about Texas.
texasisbetter
BLOW THAT SORRY STATE OFF THE FACE OF GOD''''''''S GOOD EARTH
TEXAS IS THE TRUE DEFINITION OF A TERRORIST STATE.
Posted by PALIN691"
Gee, if you don''t like Texas, how do you feel about California?
By the way, Texans dont'' claim Shrub!! He is the biggest joke in the whole state.
WORRIED????
MAKE SURE YOU ALL VOTE McCAIN
Posted by fabrat1"
Savoy here, you must be around Sherman/Denison
Texas is a fine state but has some people in it, like any state, that the world would be better off if they had been aborted.
This is not a racial issue and the black people trying to make it so know this. They just want the attention and use race to get it. We would be better off without these people too.
These three guys were friends and sometimes friendships go wrong. Doesn''t matter what your race is. They were drunk and drunks do stupid things. The investigation will show just what happened.
Posted by slim1h2o at 03:59 PM : Oct 25, 2008
Hahaha, ok,......if you insist.
BUT, he has to wash his feet first. There ain''t no way I''m doing the "nasty" with a guy that has manure between his toes. No way.
Got a clothes pin?:)
BLOW THAT SORRY STATE OFF THE FACE OF GOD''''S GOOD EARTH
TEXAS IS THE TRUE DEFINITION OF A TERRORIST STATE.
Posted by PALIN691"
Wait a minute now, the people in Texas are not all like these scum bags. They may even be transplants from some other state.
I live about 30 miles from this place and I''ll have you know I''m not a racist.
I voted for Obama because I believe he is the best chance we have to recover our nation.
You can shove your remarks where the sun doesn''t shine.
LOOK AT A MAP OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
TEXAS IS THE COMODE WHERE NEW MEXICO DEFICATES.
EAT S--T, TEXAS!
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Posted by PALIN691 at 03:11 PM : Oct 25, 2008
Ya know, it is a known fact that if you live life as a good person, when you die you will go to Texas. PALIN691...YOU are going to San Fransisco!
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