Last month several white men brutally assaulted a Black woman outside of a Michigan liquor store. Despite her injuries, no arrests were made at that time. Officers believed it was one person’s word against the next. However, new video footage confirms the woman’s account, and an investigation has been launched to bring her justice.
Tracy Douglas was punched in the face multiple times on Saturday, Aug. 20, around 11:30 p.m.
The incident happened after she was arguing with a white woman in the Liquor Cabinet parking lot, located on Secor Road in Lambertville, Michigan, near the Ohio border. The 60-year-old grandmother said she accidentally dinged the woman’s truck when she opened her car door, prompting a vicious verbal and physical altercation between the two.
“After that, she started berating me, saying racial slurs at me. She was very angry for some reason,” Douglas recalls. “I don’t know, and I kept telling her that’s not cool. You don’t use racial slurs to a Black woman.”
While the two women were fighting at each other, a crowd started to gather.
One man, who joined the commotion, admitted to Monroe County deputies that he punched Douglas in the face. Due to several witnesses giving conflicting statements, and the deputies’ seeming inability to secure the surveillance footage to figure out who was telling the truth, no one was charged and arrested for the incident.
Reports say Douglas was left with a black eye, broken nose, and possibly a concussion. Weeks later, she still wears the scars from that night.
Over the two weeks since the beatdown, the grandmother has taken to TikTok to detail the incident, starting the day after getting out of the hospital. In the first video, she says was in a fight with “three white supremacists,” and shows her followers her bruised face and shirt splattered with blood.
In another video, she said a sergeant from the police department told her he was coming to her home to get more details about the assault. However, he did not come. Instead, a cop named Officer Hall came to her house.
According to Douglas, Hall wanted the videotape she had of the altercation, but under the instruction of her attorney, she did not share her footage.
In a follow-up video, Douglas tells viewers that at one point, the sergeant did show up at her house, and she told him about the officer that came by and was trying to “intimidate” her and the person she babysits for.
The sergeant assured her he would get to the bottom of it, especially since he is in possession of the full video from the store.
On Monday, Aug. 22, she shared with her followers what led up to the fight, stating she went with her friend on a late-night run to the store.
The friend had a baby and Douglas was helping take care of the child while she shopped.
Douglas says she goes to take the baby back to the car and explains how she hit the “big old monster truck,” which started the entire confrontation. According to the grandmother, a white woman jumped out of the car, asking for her name and license. This led to a cursing match.
At that time, Douglas says, she still had the child in her arms. When she put the baby in the car and she turned around to face the woman, she was “swung on.”
As they started to fight, Douglas said she was getting the best of the white woman. That’s when the men jumped in.
One man allegedly punched her on one side of her face from behind, and the other punched her on the other side. Before she knew it, the white woman was no longer fighting and she was left fighting both men.
Douglas says at moments she lost consciousness, but when she was able to look up, she saw crowds of others “pummeling” her.
In the copy of a GoFundMe campaign, she has started for herself to secure a lawyer and help pay medical bills, she said she believes multiple men hit her.
“I have two black eyes and other injuries from these men swinging with full force,” she wrote before saying she felt “dehumanized.” “As I try to heal and look for justice, I am asking you for your help and support by donating in order to cover my legal and medical costs, as well as any expenses related to fighting for justice in my case.”
Less than ten days after launching, she has raised a little over $3,100 of the desired $20,000.
She said in an interview with WTVG, “I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.”
“It could have been your mother or my daughter,” she continued. “And what happened to me was egregious.”
On Thursday, Sept. 1, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said it had received the surveillance footage from that night and it not only gives a clear picture of what happened that night but identifies the aggressor.
The video also confirms much of Douglas’ account of the event.
The male from the small crowd can be seen landing two fists on her face with so much power Douglas says she still doesn’t remember everything that happened that night.
She does remember being taken to Saint Anne’s Hospital in nearby Toledo, Ohio, to have her injuries treated.
Douglas now is asking what she did to be beaten so severely.
“Whatever I have done,” she remarks. “Whatever I did there is no reason for a man to abuse a woman the way I was abused.”
Law enforcement has turned the footage over to the prosecutor, who will investigate further. The prosecutor’s office will determine, based on their findings, if criminal charges will be filed.
Douglas also contacted the FBI, sharing that in addition to her being a victim of what she believes is a hate crime, she believes the local law enforcement has been intimidating her and her friend, who was a witness.
