OWENSBORO, Ky. (WEHT) A follow-up tonight to a story we brought you last night on a reported hate crime against a Kentucky Wesleyan College student.
That student is speaking out about his experience that happened off campus. He says he hopes people learn from it.
Armand Childs, a senior at KWC, says he heard a racial slur from Daniel Crabtree at a restaurant parking lot on September 3rd.
“It wasn’t a surprise to me because, like I said, if you live your life like i do, sometimes you have to be ready,” he said.
“I’ve never seen it up close like that. I’ve never experienced anything like that to that extent,” added Abby Tivitt, Childs’s girlfriend, who also attends KWC.
According to a police report, Childs said it started after he accidentally cut crabtree off on Kentucky 54 on the way to the restaurant, who then got upset and followed him to the parking lot, where he screamed at him. Childs then told police crabtree opened the driver side door, spat on him and called him a racial slur. Crabtree was charged with fourth degree assault, a misdemeanor.
“I was just glad they charged him with something. I honestly expected more, but at that point, you’ll just take anything you can get,” said Tivitt.
“You have to think how their lives were impacted by this, and like I said, it’s not just about black and white, it’s about all of us,” Childs said, adding the incident also may have impacted those nearby when it happened.
In a statement, Kentucky Wesleyan College stood behind Childs, and denounced the incident, adding, “the next time you are interacting with the owensboro community, please look at the person to your left and to your right. Ask yourself how you can help make that person’s day better.”
Childs hopes people use the video and what happened to him as a learning experience.
“This needs to be a video that needs to be educational, not just to me or my peers or my colleagues, just everyone of color, any color, don’t matter what color it is,” he said.
(This story was originally published on September 16, 2021)