A white Michigan couple who pulled gun on a black family at a parking lot earlier this month have rejected accusations of racism and allegations of felony assault, with their lawyer saying the couple was victims of “ethnic intimidation”.
Dean Greenblatt, attorney for couple Jillian and Eric Wuestenberg, believes the Black mother and her daughter were at fault in the altercation. He wants them to be charged with “ethnic intimidation”.
But Greenblatt’s calls have been challenged by Christopher Quinn, the lawyer for the Black mother, Takelia Hill and her daughter.
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“They (Wuestenberg couple) were able to drive off. They didn’t choose to drive off. They actually almost hit my client with their van. And then jumped out like Bonnie and Clyde with guns pointed at them. They were going to make sure it was understood they were the ones in charge,” Quinn reportedly said.
Meanwhile, the Wuestenberg couple sat down with a local TV station and explained their side of the story. Mrs. Wuestenberg intimated that she feared for her life when Hill slapped the trunk of the couple’s car demanding that Mrs. Wuestenberg apologize for shoving Hill’s 15-year-old daughter.
“I was terrified at that moment and my terror is just exponentially greater since then,” said Mrs Wuestenberg.
“We wanted to go home, we wanted to leave in our car, we wanted the other family to be able to leave in their car. There was no desire for escalation on our part. Within moments, a second or two, I had multiple people within two feet of me and I just remember thinking, ‘I am not going home tonight,” she continued amid tears.
A viral video of the incident showed that after Hill, her daughter and the couple had exchanged words in the parking lot, the couple tried to leave in their car.
However, Hill, perhaps unsatisfied with how the couple responded to accusations of shoving her daughter, slapped the trunk of the Wuestenberg couple’s car when they tried to leave. Hill was almost hit when the car started in reverse.
The next clear scene in the video showed Mrs. Wuestenberg loading a gun and pointing at Hill. She also told her husband to call the police.
The couple were arrested and put on a $50,000 bail.
