Protesters gathered at a Black Lives Matter rally in Stonington Borough Sunday to raise awareness about a racist attack on a Black worker at the Mystic Quality Inn on June 26.
Chrystal Caldwell alleges a white couple from New York attacked her twice, calling her racial slurs, including “old monkey.” The second attack -- caught on video -- shows the man punching, kicking and slamming Caldwell to the ground. Stonington police were called in, and the victim and suspects were taken to the hospital. Then, unbeknownst to the police, the suspects left the hospital and fled.
Speaking to protesters, New London NAACP President Jean Jordan called the incident an atrocity.
“But what it is even more an atrocity is the fact that the state’s attorney’s office is not charging these people with a hate crime,” she said. “It was a hate crime. A hate crime that happened in your town.”
A video of the protest was posted online by the Stonington Democratic Town Committee.
Jordan urged protesters to call the state’s attorney’s office and demand the suspects be charged with a hate crime.
“Because if you do not help us with this, you will be complicit for this next 401 years. You will have a stain on your community. You do not want to have that stain,” said Jordan.
The state’s attorney’s office has signed arrest warrants for the suspects that list charges of second- and third-degree assault.
Stonington police say they’re working with partners in New York and the FBI’s Civil Rights Division on the investigation and apprehension of the couple.
