*A man with ties to a white supremacist prison gang is being charged with a hate crime after prosecutors say he deliberately ran his car over a black teenager, reports Jezebel.
Russell Courtier, 38, and his girlfriend Colleen Hunt, 35, were both charged with the murder of Larnell Bruce, 19, in August. The hate crime charges were added on Monday, when a grand jury re-indicted the pair, adding that they acted together, and based on “their perception of the race and color of Larnell Burce [did] intentionally cause physical injury to Larnell Bruce.”
Police say Courtier got into an argument with Bruce at a 7-11 in Gresham, Oregon, not far from where the two were living with Courtier’s parents.
Bruce, who was at the store charging his cellphone, according to the Portland Mercury; had recently moved to the area to live with his mom and baby brother.
The argument between Courtier and Bruce escalated into a fistfight outside the store. Witnesses say Hunt yelled “Get him, baby,” as Courtier punched the teenager and smashed his head into the convenience store window. When Bruce pulled out what police called a “machete,” Courtier and Hunt got back in their Jeep. Police say witnesses told them Bruce tried to flee as Courtier chased him with the car, trying to hit him. After he missed a first time, he circled around across multiple lanes of traffic and “intentionally struck him,” police stated. Bruce collapsed at the scene. He died two days later.
According to prosecutors, Courtier’s rap sheet includes extensive ties to European Kindred, a white supremacist prison gang based in the Pacific Northwest. He’s been charged with an assortment of crimes since the late ‘90s, including being a felon in possession of a firearm, supplying contraband, second-degree assault and criminal mischief.
An affidavit notes that Courtier admitted he deliberately tried to hit Bruce and wanted to hear the impact of the teen’s body hit the front of the car. Hunt, too, admitted that she urged her boyfriend to “get him,” police said.
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