LAMBERTVILLE, Mich. – A 59-year-old woman from Temperance says that she was attacked in Monroe County over the summer, and she believes it was racially motivated.
On August 20, in a parking lot outside of a Monroe County liquor store, Tracy Douglas was left bloody and bruised -- yet some charges have been filed against the couple that allegedly attacked her.
Surveillance video from a distance shows Douglas in a dark-colored sedan parked next to a white pickup truck in the parking lot of the Liquor Cabinet Lambertville and Dollar Tree. The video shows Douglas opening her car door and dinging the truck. Her attorney, Darnell Barton, stated that is when a woman inside the pickup truck became upset and demanded insurance information from Douglas while also saying racial slurs.
Barton said that Douglas recalls hearing the woman calling her the n-word.
From there, a fight broke out and a deputy on patrol noticed the commotion and stopped to assess the situation.
The deputy listened to the woman’s boyfriend, Dannis Landis, say he punched Douglas and was a trained fighter coming to his girlfriend’s aid.
Douglas’ attorney said that the girlfriend in the truck was the instigator of the situation.
“I believe that the woman who was irate enough to get out of the car, start demand insurance information, cussing, spitting, and yelling racial slurs, I believe she is the one that was out of line,” said Barton.
Douglas said that the deputy who responded to the scene laughed and joked with the accused attackers and instructed them on what to do next.
In body cam footage, the deputy who responded to the scene asked Douglas where she was from and stated that he was more black than her since he grew up in Southwest Detroit.
The sheriff’s office says the comments were unacceptable and not consistent with the values and vision of the office.
According to the Monroe County Prosecutor’s Office’s Michael Roehrig, Landis was charged with aggravated assault and Douglas was charged with assault and battery.
A civil lawsuit will be filed on Thursday against all involved in the incident.