Black man attacked at Charlottesville rally faces felony charge

Deandre Harris, the man who was brutally attacked at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, VA, is now facing felony charges related to the August attack.

About Deandre Harris potential felony charge

A local magistrate on Monday issued an arrest warrant for DeAndre Harris on an unlawful wounding charge after a man, identified Tuesday afternoon by Harris’s lawyer as Harold Ray Crews, claimed in a complaint to have been injured by the 20-year-old during the brawl.

Statement on the charge

Harris lawyer, S. Lee Merritt, issued a statement saying the unlawful wounding charge was orchestrated by the League of the South, a neo-Confederate white nationalist group, to “further victimize” Harris.

In an interview with The Washington Post, he called the charge “clearly retaliatory.” He maintained that Harris did not instigate the fight.

“We find it highly offensive and upsetting, but what’s more jarring is that he’s been charged with the same crime as the men who attacked him,” he said.

Merrit also added it was highly unusual for a magistrate to enter the warrant and not the police, and suggested that Crews tried to implict Harris previously without success.

The Charlottesville Police Department said the alleged victim went to the magistrate’s office in person to explain what had happened. After describing his allegations, the magistrate issued the warrant.

“We were not expecting this. We were expecting to do our own investigation into the man’s allegations,” said Det. Sgt. Jake Via, a spokesman for the Charlottesville Police Department.

Merrit said Deandre Harris will turn himself in the coming days.