A white Michigan man will be sentenced in March for committing a racist attack on a Black man solely because he thought the victim was staring at him, according to authorities.
Following the attack on Saturday, February 15, in Walker, Michigan, police charged 36-year-old Wilfred Francis Hutson IV with felony ethnic intimidation.
According to an affidavit obtained by MLive.com, the victim was visiting a friend and sitting in his car when Hutson accused him of staring at him.
Hutson and the victim were strangers, according to police, and when the victim attempted to drive away, Hutson pursued him. When the victim finally stopped his car and got out, Hutson charged at him and physically assaulted him.
Police say that when Hutson spoke with officers about the incident, he used racial slurs to refer to the man he attacked and threatened to shoot the neighbors if they entered his yard and set fire to their house.
Hutson appeared in court over a week after being charged and pleaded guilty to attempted ethnic intimidation. He accepted a plea deal that absolved him of the misdemeanor assault and battery charges he faced for the attack.
His sentencing is scheduled for March 12.
In Michigan, ethnic intimidation makes it a felony to threaten or harass another person because of their race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. A person convicted may face up to two years in prison and/or fines.
Hutson is one of only three people in Kent County, Michigan, who have faced the charge since 2023.
In December 2024, a Michigan man received an eight-year probation sentence after pleading no contest to felony ethnic intimidation and other charges for allegedly threatening to burn down his child’s school and kill the teachers in a racist rant.
