The third person in an alleged group of Florida gang members has been arrested following the January assault on a Black man who says four people entered his home and forcibly tattooed a misspelling of the n-word on him.
Brandon Hayley was arrested Monday, April 29 on warrants for aggravated battery, armed robbery and two counts of battery, The Ocala Star-Banner reported May 1. Hayley was being held in the Marion County Jail on $40,000 bond.
As for what led to the arrests, Newsweek reported that Michael Hart was in his home in Salt Springs, Florida when four members of the “Crazy White Boy” gang showed up on Jan. 28. Hayley told the Marion County Sheriff’s Office that he and fellow gang members Lucian “Luke” Evans, Brett “Wolf” Singleton and Mary “Beth” Durham were there to punish Hart, who is Black, but reportedly, also belongs to their gang.
Hart told police the quartet forced their way into his home and tried to cover the CWB tattoo on his neck using a knife. He tried to resist before Hayley knocked him unconscious.
“F*** you, Niger,” is what the resulting tattoo read, a misspelling of the racial slur turned out instead to be the name of the landlocked West African nation.
The act, which the Miami-Herald reported was done using a “sheathed, fixed blade knife,” was a way to punish Hart for violating gang rules, Evans told the police.
“I’ve never done this before” Hart recalled someone saying when he briefly came to. He then heard another person reply, “It’s okay. It doesn’t matter.”
Hart said he had passed out from the pain and came back to discover his phone was stolen and he was sodomized.
“…when he woke up, his pants were twisted and his ‘butt hurt,’ the arrest report stated. “(Hart) stated he was wearing blue jeans and felt something wet in his pants. (Hart) stated when he looked at his pants, he saw what he believed to be blood. Michael stated he felt like he’d been sodomized, but could not provide any more details.”
Hayley is the latest member of the gang suspects to be arrested stemming from the incident. Evans and Durham were arrested in February and March respectively. Evans is still behind bars in Marion County Jail on charges related to the Hart case and another unrelated one. Meanwhile, Durham remains in jail on charges of aggravated battery and robbery with a firearm, according to the Star-Banner.
