Seeking a remedy to a weak state law, a Black man sues attacker who got 3 days in jail for racist beating in Parma

Malik Williams was pummeled in what authorities called a racist attack in Parma in 2021. His attacker was sentenced to three days in jail. Williams is now suing his attacker.
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CLEVELAND, Ohio — Malik Williams curled up in a ball on the ground in the middle of a graduation party last year in Parma as a white man attacked him.

Williams, who is Black, never met the assailant. Never spoke to him. Didn’t interact with him at the party until the man sucker punched him in the head and repeatedly punched and kicked him while shouting the N-word in what several witnesses called a sudden, racist attack, according to police and court records.

After Williams’ attacker pleaded guilty to Ohio’s hate crime law— and got a total of three days in jail — Williams and his mother, Mary, felt the criminal justice system had failed them. So last month, their attorneys Jeremy Tor and Avery Friedman filed a unique lawsuit in federal court in Cleveland that accused his attacker and the attacker’s father of violating their right to be free from racially motivated violence.

“The judge’s sentence, it made me feel defeated,” Mary Williams said. “It made me feel like this wasn’t taken seriously. We want all the individuals who hurt Malik that night to be held accountable. I don’t want them to ever be able to do that to another person again.”

What makes the lawsuit unique is that most civil-rights lawsuits are filed against governments— cities, states, police departments— but rarely against individuals.

Tor said the lawsuit is not unprecedented.

Nine people who suffered physical or psychological injuries during the 2017 attack by white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, sued their attackers. A civil trial ended with the jury awarding $26 million against those who planned and executed the violence.

The jury deadlocked on the federal civil-rights statute that allows citizens to sue other citizens, the same claim made by the Williams’ family. The jury, however, found the 17 defendants in the Charlottesville case liable under the Virginia state law that bars people from racially motivated violence. The jury awarded $11 million under those claims.

Williams’ lawsuit also includes claims that the father and son convicted in the attack broke Ohio’s civil laws against racially motivated attacks. Tor said the lawsuit is needed to hold the duo accountable where the criminal justice system failed.

“The criminal justice system handled this how it saw fit, but we think the civil justice system can also provide additional means and forms of justice that might not otherwise be provided by the criminal system,” Tor said. “This case is absolutely outrageous and is completely intolerable in our society and should not be swept under the rug or handled lightly.”

Ohio’s hate crime rarely garners harsh punishment

Ohio’s hate crime statute— called ethnic intimidation— is a fifth-degree felony, punishable by a maximum of 18 months in prison, but it comes with a presumption of probation. The law makes it illegal for anyone to threaten, harass, attack or damage property because of a victim’s race, color, religion or nationality.

A review of the 28 ethnic intimidation cases brought by Cuyahoga County prosecutors from 2016 through 2021 showed a range of outcomes. Few brought substantial prison time.

Nine cases ended when a defendant pleaded guilty to a lesser offense— including three who pleaded down to attempted ethnic intimidation. Two cases were dismissed; one was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and another had his conviction overturned on appeal.

In three cases, the ethnic intimidation charge was dismissed but the defendant pleaded guilty to a higher-level charge. Two remain pending.

Ten pleaded guilty to ethnic intimidation.

Of the 13 who pleaded guilty to either ethnic intimidation or attempted ethnic intimidation, a first-degree misdemeanor, four were sentenced to jail time between three days and 10 months.

Two got released for time served. One was allowed in a drug treatment program that, if completed, would erase the conviction. Five were given probation. The harshest sentence handed down – 42 months in prison— was cut to six months in jail on appeal.

Tor said lawsuits in similar cases provide an alternative path for victims like Williams and his family who feel short-changed by the criminal justice system.

“Sometimes the civil system is necessary to come in and fully right a wrong,” Tor said. “I mean this case calls to mind the kind of lynchings that happened in what we’d like to think is our ancient American history. But, unfortunately, it’s not.”

Party turns into beating

Malik and Mary Williams moved to Parma when Malik was young because of its affordability and good public schools. Mary raised Malik by herself and at the time worked as a pharmacy technician and in respiratory health.

He played soccer in middle school and later basketball and football at Valley Forge High School before the coronavirus pandemic.

His mother described him as a reserved, quiet and laid-back person who had a host of friends. He graduated from Valley Forge in 2020 and took online courses at the University of Toledo.

On July 2, 2021, he accompanied his then-girlfriend to a graduation party at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church’s Picnic Grove in Parma. Williams was the only Black person at the party, according to the lawsuit and Parma police’s investigative file.

After about an hour, the brother of the graduate, Kostandinos Kafantaris, 21, first approached Williams. Williams had never before met Kafantaris, according to police records.

Kafantaris groped Malik Williams’ girlfriend with one hand and slipped $3 in her pocket to elicit an angry response, the police records and the lawsuit said.

Williams told police he was shocked and didn’t know how to react. He “refused to take the bait” and told Kafantaris to “stay in your place,” the lawsuit said.

Kafantaris yelled at Malik Williams, who remained calm. He asked Kafantaris to back away from him, according to police and the lawsuit. Kafantaris “sucker punched” Malik Williams in the head, the documents show.

Kafantaris’ father, Manuel Kafas, ran up and put Williams in a choke hold, according to police records and the lawsuit. Malik Williams was knocked to the ground, and Kafantaris repeatedly punched and kicked him while yelling the N-word several times, according to the documents.

Kafas, 48, later told Parma detectives that he didn’t see how the fight started, denied shouting racial slurs and only tried to break up the fight.

Malik Williams never tried to fight back, knowing he was the only Black person there, he told detectives. Six witnesses backed up Williams’ statement to police and added that the attack was “out of the blue.” Several said they saw Kafantaris pick the fight, shout racial slurs and attack Williams, according to Parma police records.

Witnesses, according to records, said it was clearly racially motivated and that both Kafantaris and Kafas appeared heavily intoxicated.

Malik Williams told police that at one point he thought he was going to lose consciousness. An unidentified bartender broke up the fight and helped Williams run to his car and drive away.

Kafantaris’ brother later called Williams via SnapChat, and Kafantaris interrupted several times, threatening to rape and kill his mother and adding, “You know we could have killed you if we wanted to,” according to police records.

Malik Williams was treated at a local hospital for several cuts and bruises to his face, police reports say.

Father denies accusations

Kafas, in an interview with cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer, said the portrayal of the incident by Parma police and the lawsuit is “1,000 percent a lie.”

He said Williams had never been invited to the party, tried to steal a bottle of liquor twice, had been drinking and initially approached his son. He said Williams told Kafantaris to stop talking to his girlfriend, then tried to hit his son. Kafas said he broke up the fight and that no one, including his son, uttered a racial slur.

Parma police on July 13, 2021, arrested the Broadview Heights father and son.

Kafas ultimately pleaded no contest in Parma Municipal Court to one count of negligent assault, a third-degree misdemeanor. Parma Municipal Judge Deanna O’Donnell sentenced Kafas to one day served in the city jail and a suspended 29-day jail term, along with six months on probation.

Cuyahoga County prosecutors charged Kafantaris with ethnic intimidation and a misdemeanor count of assault. He pleaded guilty June 1 to attempted ethnic intimidation and assault, both first-degree misdemeanors.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Steven Gall sentenced Kafantaris to three days in jail and five years on probation. Gall also ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine, complete 150 hours of community service and attend behavioral classes in a program called “Thinking for a Change.”

Kafas said he and his son only took plea deals at the advice of their attorney. He said he now regrets taking the advice and said he wasn’t aware a lawsuit had been filed against him and his son.

Defense attorney Andy Petropouleaus said he felt the compromise in the case worked for his clients, and he pointed out that Kafantaris did not plead to the full indictment. He said he didn’t believe a racial slur was uttered during the fight.

“We took the deal to not risk a felony,” Petropouleaus said. “This was a tussle between two young guys and then it got blown into all this. We took a compromise to avoid a felony.”

‘Lost hope in the process’

Mary Williams said when her son returned home the night of the attack, he told her someone had tried to kill him. She thought he was exaggerating, until the next morning when she went to give him a good-morning kiss and saw his face had swelled up, his new clothes ripped.

He kept asking his mother: “Why do they hate me so much?”

She took him to the emergency room and then to the police department, where she said the first officer they spoke with repeatedly asked her son if he started the fight.

Malik became despondent and locked himself in his room for three days, barely speaking to anyone.

“He kind of lost hope in the process,” his mother said.

After the attack and threats, both mother and son became scared. Malik went to counseling. He still struggles talking about it and became less trustful of others, his mother said. Both moved out of Parma.

Malik Williams, his mother said, believes the way hate crimes are handled in Ohio need to change. He transferred to Ohio University and changed his major to criminal justice, with the goal of becoming an FBI agent.

“He said he wanted to work for the FBI so he could change what he could change,” Mary Williams said. “He said he wants to make a difference in our community and in the justice system because he sees how unfair it is. He wants to treat others with respect and dignity when they’re the victim of a crime like that.”

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