Officials in Georgia will not file charges against a white man who was accused of racism by a Black Georgia lawmaker in a grocery store check-out line.
Rep. Erica Thomas, a Democratic lawmaker from Austell, accused Eric Sparkes of verbally assaulting her for complaining that she had too many items in her cart in a Publix grocery store line, reported CBS News. Thomas, who is nine months pregnant, said the verbal lashing turned racist.
“You need to go back where you came from,” Thomas said Sparkes told her. The incident happened last Friday in Mableton, Ga.
READ MORE: Ga. State Rep disputes claims she changed story about “go back to where you came from” attack
Thomas posted a tearful Facebook video recounting the attack, writing that she was “verbally assaulted in the grocery store by a white man.” Sparkes denies that his comments were racist. Thomas’ video went viral on Twitter, with people sharing under the hashtag #IStandWithErica.
Both sides doubled down on their position of who took matters too far in the checkout line dispute. The man confronted Thomas at a previous press conference and denied saying “go back where you came from” although he admitted on camera that he called the pregnant politician a “lazy b****” in front of her daughter.
Although Thomas initially tweeted with certainly that Sparkes told her to “go back to where she came from,” many thought she waivered from that statement, which caused some concern and sparked the hashtag #HateHoax to trend on Twitter.
Now police say they will not be filing charges against Sparkes. Cobb County Police spokesman Sgt. Wayne Delk said Tuesday that authorities investigated the incident and decided not to pursue criminal charges, according to CBS News.
READ MORE: Pregnant Black Georgia lawmaker confronts racist who told her ‘go back where she came from’
In the video, Thomas said there was “so much hate in this world and it’s being incited by our president every single day,” although she didn’t specifically mention President Trump’s recent comments, in which he lobbed racist attacks at four congresswomen of color and told them to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”
Sparkes said he cursed at Thomas but said he never told her to “go back where you came from.”
The post Georgia police won’t charge white man in grocery store dispute with Black lawmaker appeared first on theGrio.
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