Editor's note added. See below.
ALBERTVILLE — A Facebook post of an alleged racially motivated hate crime in Albertville has been widely shared online. However, despite the poster's claims, the Albertville Police Department has no record of the incident.
A Facebook user by the name of Crystal Yvonne posted on Friday that her "sibling" had been accosted by a "white supremacist" while driving in Albertville. She addressed the post to the immigrant community and "people of color," warning that "no one is safe."
"To all of my immigrants, people of color, and even citizens, tonight my sibling went out, and a white supremacist decided to pull a firearm on him at a four-way stop out of reason," the post read. "This incident happened in Albertville but, be safe all over! Also, keep in mind, we are citizens. No one is safe. God bless you all!"
The post, which had been shared over 165 times as of Sunday evening, comes after a pro-illegal immigration protest in downtown Albertville Wednesday stirred up tensions in the migrant communities.
When commenters asked if the alleged unnamed victim had reported the incident to police, Yvonne said her brother did not make a report since it happened too fast to record the license plate number of the offending vehicle. However, in a subsequent comment, Yvonne said that her sibling did have a dashcam, which he took to the police to file a report.
"Sadly, they can not do anything about it since you can't see the license plate," Yvonne said in the comment.
Albertville Assistant Police Chief John Amos told 1819 News that his office had no record of the incident ever being reported.
"I have searched our call logs, spoken with day and night shift supervisors, as well as day and night shift dispatchers, and I have yet to find any record of any such incident being reported to our department over the weekend," he said.
However, Amos urged the purported victim to call his office to discuss the incident.
Editor’s note: The Albertville Police Department told 1819 News on Sunday that there were no records or reports of the alleged incident detailed above, apparently in contradiction to the purported victim’s sister’s claims that her brother did take his dashcam footage to the police station and spoke with an officer. On Monday, after 1819 News originally published this article, the APD retracted its statement, saying that after further inquiry, a man did bring footage by the station Saturday and spoke to an officer about the alleged incident. However, no official report or record was taken, as the dashcam footage was unclear. Assistant Chief John Amos said there is no evidence the alleged encounter was racially motivated and that it was possibly a road rage incident. If the alleged victim can identify the suspect, he could press charges, which would likely be misdemeanor menacing, Amos said.
To connect with the story's author or comment, email daniel.taylor@1819news.com or find him on X and Facebook.
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