A 51-year-old white man will likely face hate crime charges after he allegedly attacked a man and hurled racial epithets at him outside a Wausau gas station.
Police arrested Aaron Nielsen of Wausau in the crime, which happened around 8:30 p.m. Monday. The Wausau police chief released a video message to the community Tuesday evening after police made the decision to recommend hate crime charges to the Marathon County District Attorney's Office.
In a video posted to Facebook by a person who was passing by the scene, the alleged victim identifies himself as black. He is seen bleeding from his forehead after he was attacked coming out of the gas station. The man is not seriously injured. In the video, he said he restrained Nielsen but did not fight back after the attacker called him the N-word and physically attacked him. The video shows police had separated the two men at the gas station and were questioning both of them.
The arrest comes as protests against police brutality and racial injustice have swept through cities across the country. In the video, the man said he expects he will be arrested because he is black and the attacker is white.
"This is why America is burning," the man said in the video, referring to widespread vandalism and clashes with law enforcement that have followed many protests.
In his video message, Wausau Police Chief Ben Bliven said he reviewed the case with Marathon County District Attorney Theresa Wetzsteon and determined there is cause to charge Nielsen with hate crimes, meaning he targeted a person because of race. The hate crime "enhancer" means misdemeanor charges of battery and disorderly conduct against Nielsen would instead be felonies, carrying greater penalties.
It's the second case in less than a month of an alleged hate crime in central Wisconsin. In May, Stevens Point police recommended hate crime charges against a 57-year-old white man who verbally harassed Asian Americans at a grocery store for wearing masks.
Bliven said he had spoken with the victim in the Wausau case, and he urged community members to have empathy for members of racial minorities.
"Racism exists here in our community, and sitting idly by isn’t going to be OK anymore," Bliven said. "We have to do better."
Under new rules implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19, Nielsen was not taken to jai because he was initially cited for the misdemeanor crimes. When police decided to recommend hate crime charges and his alleged crimes became felonies, he was arrested Tuesday evening and taken to jail. He will have his initial court appearance Wednesday.
Separate from this arrest, Black Lives Matter activists in Wausau are planning a march Saturday as part of the nationwide protest of the alleged murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and broader structural injustices.
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