A white Michigan man will be sentenced in March for committing a racist attack against a Black man all because he thought the victim was staring at him, authorities say.
Police charged 36-year-old Wilfred Francis Hutson IV with felony ethnic intimidation after the attack on Saturday, Feb. 15, in Walker, Michigan.
That day, the victim was visiting his friend and was sitting in his car when Hutson accused him of staring at him, according to an affidavit cited by MLive.com.
Hutson and the victim were strangers to each other, according to police, and when the victim tried driving away, Hutson chased after him. When the victim finally stopped his car and got out, Hutson ran at him and physically attacked him.
Police say that when Hutson spoke with officers about the incident, he used racial slurs to refer to the man he attacked and also said he was going to shoot the neighbors if they entered his yard and set their house on fire.
Hutson appeared in court more than a week after he was charged and pleaded guilty to attempted ethnic intimidation. He accepted a plea deal that released him from the misdemeanor assault and battery charges he faced for the attack.
His sentencing is scheduled for March 12.
In Michigan, ethnic intimidation makes it a felony to intimidate or harass another person because of race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. A person convicted can face up to two years in prison and/or fines.
Hutson is only one of three people in Kent County, Michigan, to ever face the charge since 2023.
In December 2024, a Michigan man was sentenced to eight years probation after pleading no contest to felony ethnic intimidation and other crimes he faced for allegedly threatening to burn down his child’s school and kill the teachers in a racist rant.
