Miss. Judge Allegedly Struck, Yelled Slur At Mentally Disabled Black Man

A Mississippi judge allegedly slapped a young mentally disabled black man earlier this month at a flea market and yelled "run, n----, run," the Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported Sunday.

The family of Eric Rivers, 20, filed a complaint against Madison County Justice Court Judge Bill Weisenberger, who is white, accusing him of striking Rivers at the market on May 8 in Canton, Miss.

"This is 2014, not 1960, where someone could slap a young man and call out, 'Run, n-----, run,'" former Canton Mayor William Truly, now president of the Canton branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, told the Clarion-Ledger.

An apparent witness, Tammy Westbrook, told the newspaper Rivers was offering to help flea market vendors unload their goods when Weisenberger slapped him twice, then yelled "run, n----, run" as he fled. Westbrook and her sister, a vendor at the flea market, recalled that they thought Weisenberger was a law enforcement officer because he was wearing a security guard's uniform.

Weisenberger did not respond to the Clarion-Ledger's requests for comment.

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