BLOOMINGTON, Ind.–The man and woman seen in the video where Vauhxx Booker is pinned to a tree say, through their attorney, that Booker is lying about being attacked and that Booker was actually the aggressor in an incident videoed July 4, near Lake Monroe.
“Has he shown us any injuries, any hair pulled out? I have not seen any corroboration,” said attorney Andrew Baldwin, who spoke for Sean Purdy and Caroline McCord.
Booker accused the two of shouting, “White power!” and pinning him to a tree. He told reporters he felt he would have been lynched, and said someone asked for a noose. Booker said he had heard shouts of, “White power!” in the woods and had gone to talk to the people he heard shout it.
Purdy and McCord said they had actually given Booker and some companions a ride on an ATV hours earlier when they had mistakenly crossed onto private property owned by the McCord family. Booker gave them a beer from his cooler and everything was cool.
When he returned later, Booker shouted, got in Caroline McCord’s face, and pointed a finger, said Baldwin. He said Booker was the first to punch when Purdy stepped up in McCord’s defense. Baldwin offered pictures of Purdy’s bruises.
“He was the instigator and the agitator,” said Baldwin. “He (Booker) asserts and claims to be a county commissioner and says he’s gonna fine these people. He declares he’s gonna ruin their lives,” said Baldwin. Booker is actually a member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, not a county commissioner.
Baldwin claimed that there is another video, but did not present it.
“Mr. Booker says he survived this near-lynching. But, he stays to videotape people as he race baits them. Then he gets one of them to say some racially insensitive stuff.”
Baldwin said Purdy and McCord condemn the language on the video used by other people. He said Booker attempted to elicit the use of the “n-word”, but it was never said.
Baldwin and a fellow attorney said Purdy and McCord do not wish to be in the public, but felt it necessary to defend themselves against several public attacks by Booker. He said they would be willing to sit down and talk the incident through with Booker.
