Colin Fries: Texas man, 25, beats Black cyclist unconscious, calls him N-word
SEABROOK, TEXAS: Elliot Reed, a 50-year-old Black man, was harassed and beaten unconscious by Collin Joseph Fries, 25, when Reed pulled his vehicle up alongside him at a stop sign in a Seabrook, Texas, neighborhood on October 29. “You need to get out of this neighborhood because you’re making a lot of people nervous,” Fries, a White man, told Reed. The police report claimed that the incident occurred between 100 blocks of Hampton Springs Drive and Lakeside Drive.
"He said I need to get off this neighborhood. He said, 'You don't live here, and if I catch you, I'm gonna do something to you,'" Reed told ABC13. "When he was out of the car, this is when he said the 'N-word'". Witnesses said that Fries chased Reed, caught him, and punched him several times. Fried allegedly stood over him as he was unconscious, and continued beating him. "He was attacked because he [is] Black," his wife, Angie Reed, told Eyewitness News. Reed suffered several cuts that required more than a dozen stitches in his face. He also suffered a broken tooth, fractured cheekbone, and a burst blood vessel in his eye. "I don't care where you live, you don't deserve to be disrespected by the color of your skin," Reed's wife said. Police have charged Fries with misdemeanor aggravated assault.
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"We are still in the initial stages of the review of this incident," a district attorney's office representative said. "What happens with regard to whether a charge is increased or a hate crime enhancement is added will depend upon the totality of the evidence." Harris County District Attorney's Office said that the charge was a misdemeanor because Seabrook's investigating officers are yet to submit evidence that shows Reed suffered serious bodily injuries.
In another recent incident of racism, the Savage Police Department, along with the Prior Lake High School are currently investigating a viral racist video that is believed to target a Black student at the school. According to reports, at least two students at the school in Savage, Minnesota, were involved in the making of the video targeting Naya Sigin, a freshman. Naya, along with her sister Elizabeth claims it isn't an isolated incident but part of a larger racist campaign against them.
The shocking story has emerged just days after reports of racist, homophobic hazing at Danvers High School in Massachusetts, which is also being investigated. In late September, the Park Hill High School in Kansas City also made headlines after a group of students posted an online petition calling for the return of slavery. Days later, two high school students in Kansas City once again made the news, for a racist sign asking to go to the homecoming dance.
