Mayor: I Was The Victim Of A Racist Hate Crime. Cops: Not Even Close.
Darnell Byrd McPherson, the mayor of Lamar, South Carolina, believed she was victimized by a racist hate crime earlier this month when she found her and her husband's cars covered in a “yellow, sticky substance.”
However, local authorities and the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) have since confirmed that there was no crime committed, determining the “yellow, sticky substance” to be pollen.
Nonetheless, McPherson feels she was victimized for the color of her skin. Perhaps by flowers and bees.
“My husband went out to the car to get some things out of the garage,” the volunteer mayor recalled to Newsweek. “He says, ‘Somebody’s painted your car!’”
“They started rubbing it,” McPherson continued, “and it was this yellow, sticky substance. So it was like, What is this? … It looked like little pebbles.”
To McPherson, this was a clear hate crime due to the history of the town: “I likened it as a hate crime because No. 1, there’s a history in our town of Lamar,” she said.
“It ignited some fear in my spirit. My God, who would do that?” she asked, adding, “It was something; it was just unnerving to me.”
As noted by Newsweek, McPherson clarified “that there were no words or symbols drawn on the cars. The cars were parked in the street near the end of the couple's driveway, a block and a half from Lamar’s downtown.”
McPherson had both cars pressure-washed twice the day after the incident.
“The substance wasn’t saved and the cars were actually cleaned—pressure-washed twice—there was no substance, and so they didn’t have it for the investigation,” said the mayor.
Darlington County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Robby Kilgo told Newsweek his team found the substance “to be pollen” and that “[t]here was no reason for us to collect a sample.”
“The report that was taken included details of an examination by two sheriff's officials (a sergeant and a deputy) 'immediately came to the conclusion that the substance had a yellowish tint to it and that it's a type of powder similar to pollen,’” reports Newsweek.
Though local authorities found no evidence to support McPherson’s suspicions of a hate crime, upon the mayor’s insistence that she was victimized, SLED got involved in the case. The agency quickly came to the same conclusion as local authorities and failed to even open an investigation.
“We reviewed the incident report, but we did not open a formal investigation” because they “did not believe a crime occurred,” said a spokeswoman for SLED.
McPherson claims that local law enforcement told her, “There’s rumors out there that they’re going to assassinate you.”
“That’s a federal crime,” said the mayor.
“What do we need to do in Lamar? I say, we need to come together,” McPherson said. “There should be something else … But there’s always these remnants of racism.”
"I don't care about a car," she added. "What I want is my life."
We get that here from oak trees when they go into their pollen phase. Everybody has a yellow car in Little Rock during that time
Would that time be in February?
April
How curious!!!
Why is that? That's when the little pollen buds come out on the oak trees. They are fully leafed out at the end of April.
It was an attempt at irony.....of course it's April and not February.
Sorry....I'm not having the best day
Yer doin' fine.
I get it now!
Oak trees don't pollinate in February!* Right?
duh! My brain passed wind yesterday
* And I doubt they pollinate in South Carolina in February, maybe March, but probably not February
Yeah, because everybody knows pollen is a wet, sticky, "pebbly" substance. Jeebus, what moron would actually believe much less get this stupidity published. No wonder no effort was made to actually analyze whatever this stuff was (but definitely NOT pollen, that much is clear). [deleted]
If this woman is the mayor of a city in South Carolina, more than likely she has been living in that city for several years before she became mayor, even maybe since birth.
2019 is not the first year for pollen.
She was looking to get the spotlight. She sure got it, just not in the way she was hoping.
She should be charged with yet another hate crime hoax.
Funny how the neighbors' cars were spared from this "pollen." You know, the neighbor who thought it was weird enough to point it out to the mayor? Did you decide to ignore that little detail?
Maybe the other neighbor parked their car in a garage. Ever think of that?
Hopefully the voters realize their mistake and recall but I have a feeling some of them will buy into her claims hook, line and sinker.
Hey, if people can buy into this "pollen" BS so easily all bets are off.
It can happen. After all, a bunch of libs bought into the "they yelled This is MAGA country" in downtown Chicago.
New day, same ol' BS.
Well said. It would take quite a lot of subconscious bigotry to believe this was a hate crime rather than pollen. But, there are always idiots. For example, the people that voted for her...
Apparently not for people who like to whip up big batches of race-baiting BS at every opportunity.
The mayor wasn't a victim of a hate crime. She was a victim of climate change.
AOC will ride to her rescue anytime now.
How early?
I don't think the seasons are that different between Central AR and South Carolina
I live in SC. Pollen has been coating my car for weeks.
The mayor is just pulling a Smollett.
Indeed. Another hate crime hoax.
The hoax was...
Apparently the pollen was because it seems the pollen only targeted a black woman's car. No mention of it hitting white people's cars.
Ha! Remember the "Jade Helm" exercise?
My first reaction was hmmmmmm, then I realized it was just another zany day in America.
Note to self: next time, use something similar to pollen to fuck up my enemy’s vehicle.