Whether a 59-year-old woman was treated fairly by the Monroe Police Department or the county prosecutors is under fire.
It has been more than 30 days since Tracey Douglas, a Temperance, MI resident, was assaulted by a couple. Douglas accuses Laura Bondy and her boyfriend, Dennis Landis, of this assault. Landis is a trained martial artist and cage fighter.
Douglas was sitting in a car holding an infant child she cares for in the Monroe County convenience store parking lot. According to Dionne Webster-Cox, co-counsel for Douglas, Douglas first tapped the truck Bondy and her boyfriend were in. Bondy then rammed her door into Douglas’ car. This incident precipitated an argument. A presumed intoxicated Bondy began shouting racial epithets and shoving Douglas.
Landis, the boyfriend, exited the store and allegedly waged a vicious racial and aggravated assault and intent to do great bodily harm against Douglas. At the same time, Douglas said Landis’ friend was physically restraining her. Landis boasted: I “drilled her like a champ.”
Unfortunately, 59-year-old Douglas, a Black woman, suffered a broken nose and concussion while attempting to defend herself.
Douglas was charged with assault and battery. The woman she was fighting with was not charged. The man who socked Douglas was charged with aggravated assault. The man who held Douglas while he did so was not charged.
A Monroe Sheriff’s officer purports that the victim, Douglas, is responsible for being assaulted.
While she was handcuffed, bleeding and scared, a white deputy, according to Douglas, made several inflammatory remarks. He allegedly said, “I’m Blacker than you! I grew up in southwest Detroit, so I’m probably Blacker than you.”
Deputies did not arrest the alleged assailants but allowed them to walk around the car, laughing and cracking jokes as Douglas was confined less than 10 feet away.
Darnell Barnett and co-counsel Dionne Webster-Cox have factored race into the equation.
“There’s obvious racial bias and systemic racism in the Monroe County criminal justice system begrudgingly investigating a crime where a concussed and bleeding woman was ridiculed and humiliated in regard to her race thirty seconds into police interaction, and no one was arrested,” said Webster-Cox.
Michelle Jacobs of The University of Florida, Levin College of Law said, “Black women have a particular history with the state and law enforcement not replicated among other women’s communities.
“Typical stereotypes are that Black women are overly aggressive and accustomed to violence within their environment,” Jacobs added. “On the other hand, white women are elevated to be virtuous, pure and innocent, and Black women are defined as criminals…
In addition, implicit racial attitudes and stereotypes skew prosecutorial decisions in various racially biased ways.”
“Where do we live when the victim is charged by the man who held her while she was assaulted and walks away without a second thought from the prosecutor,” asked Webster-Cox.
Members of the community are concerned with protecting women’s rights. They feel there have been grave human and civil rights violations and unlawful or corrupt behavior by officials in positions of authority who can prosecute offenders to the fullest extent permitted by law.
On October 7, Attorney Darnell Barton and Webster-Cox filed a lawsuit against the man who hit Douglas, the woman who was fighting her, the man who held Douglas down and the officer. Barton said this case is likely one with double standards.
