Dragging Death Raises Tensions In Texas

Black Man Killed Underneath Pickup Truck; Two White Men Charged With Murder

(AP)  In a gruesome case with powerful echoes of the dragging death of James Byrd a decade ago, a black man was killed underneath a pickup truck in East Texas and two white men have been charged with murder.

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."

[lloydbest1]

Alcohol does funny, or maybe peculiar things to your judgement. Would be interesting to know if Finley also killed his friend under the influence. If so, then a tendency toward alcohol mediated violence can be deduced and booze can then be as much of an aggravating circumstance as hate.
It wouldn''t be that difficult, either, to determine if he was a member of a white supremacist gang. Chances are very good he was. In that part of the world, white prisoners are almost always members of one kind of supremacist gang or other, even if they aren''t blantently racist and join unwillingly. Peer pressure can be a b-tch.
It''s way too soon to pass judgement, but given the alcohol and Finley''s all-but-certain ties to organized hate groups; I don''t have too warm and fuzzy a feeling about this guy - or his buddy.

[ubrew12]

ToldYouSo74 said: "Lord when we ALL learn, we have one sun, one moon, and one planet. We were put here as ONE mankind. We must live together on this planet, IN PEACE. Otherwise WE will be the CREATORS of mankind''s own demise."

Well put.

Don''t know what happened here. My guess? 60% alcohol, 20% youthful hormones, 20% racism/classism.

America is in a BAD place right now. That has to be taken into account in ANY bizare occurance right now.

[erb0087]

Dragging Death Raises Tensions In Texas
Black Man Killed Underneath Pickup Truck; Two White Men Charged With Murder

Uh-huh. Want to guess who these two white guys were voting for before they committed capital murder?

I give you one guess. 8-)
Posted by Centerfall93 at 02:04 AM : Oct 25, 2008
--------------------------------

No doubt in my mind.

They were planning to vote for Gene Amondson and Leroy Pletten, the candidates of the Prohibition Party.

The Prohibition Party advocates a variety of socially conservative causes, including "stronger and more vigorous enforcement of laws against the sale of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, against gambling, illegal drugs, pornography, and commercialized vice."

[leroymerch]

Reading this story as a 63 year old white man, I am appalled at the awfulnesss and racial hate in Paris, Texas... a good ole (white) boy system. I didn''t like Texas when I was stationed there in the military 40 years ago, sounds like it''s still a loser state!

This is not racist. They were all friends and all criminals. When I was young I had FRIENDS who were criminals who would have killed me for any number of reasons and we are all of the same ethnicity. Unfortunately when you keep such company anything can happen!

[watching_you]

%u201CUh-huh. Want to guess who these two white guys were voting for before they committed capital murder? I give you one guess. 8-) %u201C
Posted by Centerfall93 at 02:04 AM

{}{}}{}{}

And %u201Cguess%u201D how many people now know YOU, YOURSELF, are a moron? Hey, you racist MF, next time you%u2019re out shopping at KKKMart, buy yourself a brain.

[irmcvet97]

Are these people ever going to join the civilized world?

[irmcvet97]

This is not racist. They were all friends and all criminals. When I was young I had FRIENDS who were criminals who would have killed me for any number of reasons and we are all of the same ethnicity. Unfortunately when you keep such company anything can happen!

Posted by ronivy at 05:33 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Racism was taught to these men almost from Birth! "Equal but Different" is part of the required teaching in that part of the country. To say it wasn''t racially motivated is to ignore the obvious! It may not have started out that way but changes are after some Alcohol and some of the Required Red Neck bluster, it ended up that way.

[irmcvet97]

Why is it every crime where a black is killed by a white is a hate crime but not when a white is murdered by a black?

Posted by KyRock1 at 05:49 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Duh?! LOL You either haven''t been far enough in school to know what these people were taught and what Jim Crowe meant OR you are part of the Problem.

[irmcvet97]

But this Mothere screaming racist hate crime and calling in the NBP will only stir the racial tensions already present in that town.

Posted by obiden08 at 05:55 AM : Oct 25, 2008

WHY are racial tensions present? IS there a basis for it or has this Mother NO GROUNDS to think that?

[honestabe8]

Gosh, isn''t alcohol fun?

[nikkicatt1]

Here we have 2 guys with criminal records: one for murder. The 3rd guy calls them friends. Isn''t this kinda like the story of the man that carried the snake across the river? When you associate with violent criminals, violent crime happens.... Where was his "mother" when he began associating with white supremacist crinimals? You can''t say they were good friends for years and then say this was racist. Driver''s drunk, guy gets out with all the beer, driver saw RED not black.

[slim1h2o]

The concept of a hate crime is something new. Before murder was murder. And punishable with jailtime, for how ever long the system had set.

Now, if you murder someone, and it''s proven you did it solely because of hate, they can jail you for twice, three, or four times as longer under the new
rules.

[excoachken]

This case is not about RACE. It, however, will be about race, if Texas cannot keep it''s own house in order, by punishing these low lifes with the same sentence that any other animal would receive for such an awful act.

[nikkicatt1]

Ah, the unflushed shhithole that is Texas.

Posted by FloydZeppt at 07:04 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Where do you live? If you let the media influence your beliefs, then, please, stay out of Texas. There is not a city, a county or a state that does not have some kind of racial or relegious tension per the media. I grew up in a small town and it wasn''t so much racial as economic. The rich was in power and the poor did all the work. To condemn a whole state (or people for that matter) is just to show your ignorance and intolerance. Go back to where you came from and leave REAL people alone.

[erb0087]

"The case has raised racial tensions in Paris, a town of 26,000 with a history of fraught relations between blacks and whites."

A history of fraught relations -- those are the worst kind.

What was it Bogart said to Ingrid Bergman ?

"We"ll always have Paris. We didn''t have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night"

[erb0087]

"Ah, the unflushed shhithole that is Texas."
Posted by FloydZeppt at 07:04 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Does Joe the Plumber know about this ?

[n8yvn29]

If convicted, what are the chances these two white boys will get the death penalty in the state that leads the nation in executions? Try zero and none = republican justice.

[kittykatty2]

nikkicatt1, you''re a moron. You''re comments are representative of the apathetic, racist white populace in the United States. If you think you are "real people" then God help us all.

[upto1947]

Ah, the unflushed shhithole that is Texas. True, true true. I was in Texas once. I''ll never go back. EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE I met was a number 1 ASSSSSS HOOOOOOOLE.

[upto1947]

erb0087 Talk about not FUNNY. You are it.

[yourpointis]

"Ah, the unflushed shhithole that is Texas. True, true true. I was in Texas once. I''''ll never go back. EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE I met was a number 1 ASSSSSS HOOOOOOOLE.

Posted by Upto1947 at 08:35 AM : Oct 25, 2008"

Oh wow, I just about wasted time on commenting! Cr@p, I did anyway. I''m in Texas, was just about raised in East Texas, and don''t condone this WHATSOEVER. But that''s okay, I could care less what you think of Texas as a whole. Honestly, I think we''re a better State for you not being here....

[berniepeders]

Why is it every crime where a black is killed by a white is a hate crime but not when a white is murdered by a black? Posted by KyRock1

Good point, I''ve wondered that myself for a long time.
Peace

[missingamerica]

Doesn''t matter about the skin color. Being dragged to death is a horrible way to die. The punishment should be equally horrible - but since that is not feasible, then an expedited execution is in order.

[gheemaster38]

Alchol brings out the way we actually feel and make us do the things we always wanted to but knew were unacceptable. For example, hitting on your best friends wife while intoxicated, saying horrible things, using abusive languages, fighting etc. Then using the excuse "I was drunk" to pass the action off. In this case, I think what happened was not racism at all, but an act of terrible judgement that lead to a death. The "walker" was drunk as well as the "driver." I think the nudge may have started off as a "playful" act between friends but do to alcohol "misjudgement" ie, maybe hitting the gas instead of the break, the end result was death. How many times have we witness a drunk person do something totally unacceptable or carry a "joke" way to far? This is horrible, but reading the accounts of these guys being friends for years and the fact that they were drinking together that day and went for refills; I really dont think racism had a part in this. Most AFrican Americans would never sit down and drink with someone that is labelled a racist. A person can sense a racist within moments of being in their company. Hate is hard to hide in I don''t see that in this case.

[zorba1232]

Funny every white on black crime is considered a hate crime and receives national attention whereas black on white crime is so common that it is just a normal everyday crime.

Why didn''t that animal who raped and tortured that Columbia University grad student get charged with a hate crime (he was black and of course she was white)?

What about the animals who gang raped, tortured, and murdered that young couple in Knoxville, TN? Didn''t even make the national news? Why not? At that same time the Duke case was on every news show and in every newspaper (and she of couse was lying).

The majority of black crime is committed against other races (Hispanic and white). Why doesn''t the media cover that? Every single black-on-white crime should be a hate crime.

I feel sorry for the Mom in this case for losing her son; however, to say it was a hate crime is ridiculous.

[cutetinia]

Ah, the unflushed shhithole that is Texas. True, true true. I was in Texas once. I''''ll never go back. EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE I met was a number 1 ASSSSSS HOOOOOOOLE.

--------------------

Hey wait a minute Man, President George W. Bush is from Texas...Oh, never mind. I guess you got a good point.

[lloydbest1]

"The majority of black crime is committed against other races (Hispanic and white)...." Posted by zorba1232 at 09:46 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Source?

As little as black people mix with other races, I find it difficult to believe that black-on-white (or whatever) crime is that much more prevelant than black-on-black crime.
in fact, every creditable crime reporting agency, such as this one...www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/race.htm, tell a completely different story.
Blacks are at least 7 times more likely to be victims of other blacks than of whites. And black-on-white crime pales to insignificance when compared to white-on-white crime....
But what''s really important here is Mrs. McClelland lost her kid in a most horrible manner. She deserves our sympathy and kind thoughts. She has mine.

[inventagod2]

Stupid
Drunk
People.

[gheemaster38]

The majority of black crime is committed against other races (Hispanic and white). Why doesn''''t the media cover that?

Posted by zorba1232 at 09:46 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Statistically speaking, this is a false statement. The majority of black crimes are black on black. Infact, up to as high as 90%. One reason that is believed, is that the average African American that chooses the "thug" life knows he will get 3 times the sentence if he selects a European American. Another is territorial. Also, Hispanics, are rarely victimized by the African American "thug". Crime is crime and should be met with swift and harsh sentencing no matter what race a person is.

[erasmus81]

EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE I met was a number 1 ASSSSSS HOOOOOOOLE.

Posted by Upto1947 at 08:35 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Tucker, is that true? Should I be re-thinking a trip to Texas?:)

[barbaraf4]

Black activitists let no opportunity go un-exploited to get their hatred of Whites out into the mainstream media. Even if they have to fabricate it.

It sounds like these three guys were good friends. I imagine whatever drunken misadventure caused this death will haunt the other two for the rest of their lives.

This doesn''t fit the criteria of a hate crime, unless the damage they do to the survivor''s reputations qualifies. (Hate crimes can work both ways).

[Meg003]

One tourist trip I took by car, I was astounded at the behavior of some families. A child from Michigan stuck gooey candy on the obviously expensive felt hat of our tour guide, in plain site of his parents, who LAUGHED, never apologized, and did not offer to pay for the ruined hat. Another child mocked a little boy with a stammer. The New York parents also thought this was hilarious behavior.

Then we drove through part of Texas and exited the Interstate and had a meal at a diner. Everyone smiled at us. The food was well-prepared and delicious. Two people commented on how pretty our toddlers were. The waitress brought free ice cream for the kids.

I know the Michigan family did not represent all people from Michigan, because I know responsible, courteous people from Michigan. And everyone from New York does not have bad manners.

But there are good people in every state, and the Texans I met were wonderful. I would love to go back.

[slim1h2o]

Tucker, is that true? Should I be re-thinking a trip to Texas?:)





--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by erasmus81 at 10:44 AM : Oct 25, 2008


More people from Upstate NY has caused me more harm than any other group of people, that I have met.


And I have lived in Tx, did so for 13 yrs.

[JamesB621]

Yeah, I was sentenced to Texas for about a year, I agree these people are grade A bull#@&%$!*s. And to tylerndfw, some of us don''t have a choice but to go to Texas, courtesy of the US military we are forced to endure you s@$&heads and can''t get out of there fast enough when we get our transfers!!!!!!

[toolmangler-2009]

George W. Bush is from Texas...
Posted by cutetinia at 10:12 AM : Oct 25, 2008



The shrub is a Texan wannabe from new England.

[slim1h2o]

Posted by JimB621 at 11:14 AM : Oct 25, 2008

I have lived in several states,,and I have yet to find a state that wasn''t filled with a bunch of turds.

The problem isn''t just in Tx....

Hey Toolmangler...

[stopsocialis]

While this is a horrible tragic crime, there are whites that are robbed/murdered by blacks all over the United States every day but the media fails to report any of these events.

This article is merely a tactic by the liberal media to sway more votes to Obama.

Sick stuff.

[stopsocialis]

George Bush is a perfect example of a Texan,
Stupid, arrogant, dishonest.
Texas is also one of the few places you will hear one of these morons shout Yee Hah, and mean it.
Posted by johndevinejr at 10:38 AM : Oct 25, 2008


John, you could''ve simply summed your post up with:

"I hate Conservatives"


Would''ve been allot easier to type.

[erasmus81]

And I have lived in Tx, did so for 13 yrs.

Posted by slim1h2o at 11:10 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Yeah? So do all Texans wear cowboy hats and boots?:)

[slim1h2o]

Yeah? So do all Texans wear cowboy hats and boots?:)




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by erasmus81 at 11:27 AM : Oct 25, 2008


Nope,,,baseball caps, and tennis shoes too....


LOL

[erasmus81]

Nope,,,baseball caps, and tennis shoes too....

Posted by slim1h2o at 11:28 AM : Oct 25, 2008

But they probably at least OWN a cowboy hat, right?

[barbaraf4]

Let''s face it. This isn''t our Grandparents'' United States. Back then we weren''t as ethnically divided. People who came the the US in those days assimilated. They weren''t anxious to stand out in a crowd. New kids were put into school and they learned English. It helped that their parents didn''t keep speaking the old language at home. People wanted to belong. Now, people want it both ways. All the privileges of being American without the effort of learning our language or leaving their ethnic neighborhoods.

True, there was always the racial under-current. I lived in Mississippi during the early ''60s and the people (White and Black) who were willing to stand side by side at the barracades and stare down the German Shepards, the guns and the KKK; who were willing to sit at the lunch counter; who were willing to sit at the front of the bus; who were willing to register to vote (dispite poll taxes and reading tests); who were willing to die should have been role models for future generations. Instead, most of todays youth, Black and White, take this for granted. Most don''t even bother to vote. Such a waste and such a shame.

[slim1h2o]

But they probably at least OWN a cowboy hat, right?



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by erasmus81 at 11:33 AM : Oct 25, 2008

People in Montana have cowboy hats, not sure what difference that makes.

What was your point?..

[slim1h2o]

Instead, most of todays youth, Black and White, take this for granted. Most don''''t even bother to vote. Such a waste and such a shame.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by Barbaraf4 at 11:37 AM : Oct 25, 2008


I agree. And because they take all this for granted,, most are disrespectful as well...

[erasmus81]

What was your point?..

Posted by slim1h2o at 11:42 AM : Oct 25, 2008

There is no point. I was joking. You always see and hear things about Texas. Of course you can only believe half of what you hear. I don''t hear so much about Montana.:)

[wdrussell1]

StopSocialis is just a member of the American taliban. He comes here with his lies and half-truths then comes back and quotes scripture.
You are an embarrassment to Christians.

[slim1h2o]

erasmus81 at 11:49 AM : Oct 25, 2008

Oh,,,hard to tell sometimes.

You have never heard of anything bad, coming out of Montana? I do, nothing really lately though..

I know in Idaho(I know it''s not Montana, next door though) , they had the case of that perv that killed that killed a boy in front of his sister.

So bad ***** happens every where....

[erasmus81]

So bad ***** happens every where....

Posted by slim1h2o at 12:02 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Yes, it does.

"You have never heard of anything bad, coming out of Montana?"

No, but I have heard of something bad coming from Wyoming....."HawkSprings". haha

[erasmus81]

It can''''t be true because there can only be ONE Number One!!!

Posted by tuckerndfw at 12:03 PM : Oct 25, 2008

Hmmm, any ideas on who that Number One is? I know it can''t be you.:)

"When I was in the military, I lived in a house owned by a German family that had a little kid about 6 years old. He asked me about my horse and if I wore my guns to town. And, he was being serious. (that was in the early 1970''''s)."

That is so cute!

"We''''re real nice, it''''s those damned foreigners that cause all the problems."

I''m sure it is.


All this talk about cowboys and horses has made me think of that song, "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy".

Oops, sorry, my mind wandered for a minute.:)