Blackwell was charged with 1st-degree reckless injury, with added enhancers that includes a hate crime and use of a dangerous weapon for the November 1 battery acid dousing of a 42-year-old Latino.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
November 6, 2019
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Wednesday, Clifton A. Blackwell, 61, was charged with one felony count for 1st-degree reckless injury with additional enhancers for a hate crime and use of a dangerous weapon for the November 1st acid dousing of Muhad Villalaz, 42, in Milwaukee's Southside. If convicted, Blackwell is facing up to 25 years in prison and $100,000 in fines for the 1st-degree reckless injury charge and an additional 5 years in prison for the hate crime enhancer.
Villalaz who is originally from Peru and a U.S. Citizen says, that the racially charged verbal confrontation started when Blackwell approached him and complained about him parking near a bus stop, so Villalaz moved his truck and then returned to go into a Mexican restaurant at the 2600 block of S. 13th Street where Blackwell was waiting for him near the entrance. Blackwell and Villalaz began to exchange words, but Blackwell told Villalaz that he was an "illegal" and should go back to his country including other racial slurs. A video surveillance camera caught the moment when Villalaz flinched and Blackwell who had an open aluminum container doused Villalaz with battery acid.
Villalaz immediately ran inside the restaurant and rinsed the acid from his face with water, but received 2nd-degree burns to his face and his clothes were burned with acid.
Milwaukee police were able to arrest Blackwell the next day and the acid incident news went viral nationwide and reached other parts of the globe.
A GoFundMe was created by his sister to help pay for Villalaz's medical bills with a $15,000 goal and it raised a total of $52,754 with a single anonymous donor donating $12,500, which the fundraiser was recently deactivated.
Blackwell is a Trump supporter, according to a woman that operates a local business, which Blackwell used to frequent and is considered a racist just like Trump himself.
Democratic Presidential candidate Tom Steyer who was visiting the Latino community on Wednesday morning confirmed during a gathering that he had heard of Blackwell's acid dousing on Villalaz and called Trump, a fake president who is a racist.
Steyer is the only 2020 Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate that has come to the Milwaukee Latino community and reached out to Hispanics and has engaged in dialogue, one on one with Latino residents and listened to their concerns.
Steyer is the only 2020 Democratic U.S. Presidential candidate that has come to the Milwaukee Latino community and reached out to Hispanics and has engaged in dialogue, one on one with Latino residents and listened to their concerns.
Also in August, a small group of Latino MAGAs who feed on Trump's racist and hate rants created a fake Latino MAGA Facebook page to target Latino members of the Hispanic community and to promote division, hate and Nazi propaganda in Wisconsin to help raise campaign funds to re-elect Trump. So far, none of the Latino MAGAs (Make America Great Again/Keep America Great) have come forward publicly to condemn Blackwell's hate crime act and to demand justice for Villalaz as numerous Democratic public elected officials, Latino community leaders, immigrant rights advocates and members of the local LULAC Council have done including Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, who have pushed for Blackwell, a convicted felon and a U.S. Marine veteran to be charged with a hate crime. AP reported that an official from the U.S. Marines branch could not find any record by name and birth date that Blackwell had ever served as a Marine.
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