- The Indiana Department of Natural Resources released a 68-page document to the Associated Press, which revealed that four people are being looked into for potential crimes tied to the alleged assault of
Vauhxx Booker . - The incident took place on July 4.
- Booker previously said that police did not make any arrests when he called to report the incident.
- Witnesses told investigators that Booker also allegedly punched two men involved.
On the fourth of July, Vauhxx Booker reported to police that five white men assaulted him on Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana, in what he described in a Facebook post as an "attempted lynching."
Booker, who posted about the incident on his social media pages, previously told Insider he was upset the Indiana Department of Natural Resource officers who arrived on the scene made no arrests and instead lectured him on property rights.
Now, in an incident report investigators in Indiana have found six potential crimes stemming from the altercation, including some against Booker himself, the Associated Press reported.
The civil rights activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission said he was pinned up against a tree, and heard someone yelling things like "get a noose." He told Insider he's only alive because bystanders intervened.
In his post, he said he was meeting up with friends at the lake and on his way to the meeting area, he and a friend were followed by a white man who appeared drunk and donned a hat with a confederate flag on it who told him he was on private property. He left during this encounter, but he and his friends later encountered a group that claimed they were on their private property.
He wrote on Facebook that he was beaten by a group of white men, and said people called to break his arms and "get a noose."
"I don't want to recount this, but I was almost the victim of an attempted lynching," Booker wrote in the Facebook post. "I don't want this to have happened to me or anyone. It hurts my soul and my pride, but there are multiple witnesses and it can't be hidden or avoided."
The DNR released a 68-page document to the AP, which revealed that four people are being looked into for potential crimes.
According to the document those who reviewed cellphone videos and conducted multiple interviews with those involved in the altercation and witnesses, "determined there was evidence of multiple crimes."
Sean Purdy and Jerry Cox, two men that the DNR document mentions, could face charges as well as Booker and Ian Watkins, who was with Booker that day.
Purdy and Cox could face misdemeanor battery charges, and Purdy could also be charged with felony criminal confinement. Booker and Watkins could face charges of criminal trespassing. Booker who is also listed as "victim" could also be charged with battery.
"Vauhxx Booker is the victim. Even suggesting that a victim of a hate crime is a suspect is inexcusable, immoral, and more evidence that racism is systemic," Booker and his attorney Katharine Liell said in a statement. " Vauhxx Booker has not committed any crimes and is a free man. He did not refuse interviews with law enforcement in fact he has been and continues to work with the FBI. He refused to be subjected to an interview with the same DNR officers who refused to listen to him July 4th when he was attacked."
David Hennessy, a lawyer for Purdy said Booker was on private property and reapproached Purdy and his group hours after Purdy informed him he was on his private property, the AP reported. Hennessy also said Booker has been "putting forth a false narrative" about the encounter.
Witnesses told investigators that Booker allegedly threatened Purdy, punched him three times in the face and also "got in the face" of Purdy's girlfriend.
Cox also said he and Booker exchanged punches and investigators found they both had injuries. Witnesses who were with Booker also said that racial slurs were hurled at them.
Booker and his attorney were also critical of the investigation and claimed that the same officers who refused to make an arrest, "have improperly released a record of their investigation, which they refused to even admit they were conducting."
"This is inappropriate conduct by a law enforcement agency to publicly release documents which are generally denied even under Indiana Public Access Laws. Why are they doing it? Because they are threatened and embarrassed, since they didn't do the right thing two weeks ago," the statement said.