US: Man burns cross in 'hate crime' probe
A 21-year-old white man was arrested on a hate crime charge in the US today after a burning cross was found in a black family’s front yard.
Christopher Hudak is the brother of a girl who was involved in a school fight with a boy from the family just hours before the cross appeared last week, police Captain Keith Corlett said at a news conference.
Cross burnings are seen as expressions of racism, made well-known by white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
Hudak was charged with aggravated harassment, Capt Corlett said. Westchester District Attorney Janet DiFiore said the case would be prosecuted as a hate crime.
“No matter what issues, concerns or beliefs people may have toward one another, no family, individual or persons should be subjected to, or should have to tolerate, any act of hate – particularly one of this nature,” he said.
Timothy Artope had admitted fighting with two girls on November 21, saying one used a racial slur. That night, his family found the 4ft (1.2m) wooden cross burning in their yard.
Capt Corlett said Hudak, who is unemployed, “fabricated an alibi” that disintegrated during the investigation. Police then obtained a warrant and found computer records that led to his arrest.
