A suburban Atlanta college student says racism motivated a harrowing attack by white men that left him needing medical treatment last weekend.
Jalique Rosemond claims his attackers called him racial slurs and ripped out part of his locs during a bloody assault in the parking lot of his apartment complex. Days after the incident, Gauge Dakota Stanley, 20, and Kole Zuba Reasoner, 20, were arrested and charged with aggravated battery and battery in connection with the affray.
Rosemond wants the men involved charged with a hate crime.
“This was just nothing but a hate crime towards me,” Rosemond told WSB-TV in Atlanta before the charges were announced. “They were referring to me as ‘boy,’ calling me Black. They were calling me the N-word,” he added.
Rosemond, a Kennesaw State University student, says he had just completed his final DoorDash delivery for the day before returning to his Kennesaw apartment complex just before midnight on Saturday, Jan. 21. Rosemond said he was pulling into his parking area when he saw a group of young men standing in the parking lot. He claims he tried to drive around them for a vacant parking space.
As Rosemond exited his vehicle the unspecified number of white men in the parking lot approached him before he was attacked. Rosemond told WXIA he was able to run around a parked jeep to avoid two white men who caught up to him and began assaulting him. Police later identified those two men as Gauge Dakota Stanley, 20, and Kole Zuba Reasoner, 20, and both face multiple charges.
“They said that I was driving recklessly in the neighborhood and hit their fraternity brother, which is completely wrong,” Rosemond said.
Rosemond told police he did not know the two men, who he says yelled “run that s–t!” before approaching him to begin the assault.
“They were hitting me, they stomped on me.” Rosemond told WANF-TV.
As the beating continued, Rosemond said his attackers targeted his hair.
“As one holds onto me, the other one approaches me and he says, ‘Rip out that (expletive) dreads,’ ” he said.
The beating was captured on surveillance video at the apartment complex, which houses many students from nearby Kennesaw State University.
Rosemond would claim when he managed to get away, the pair threw his KSU backpack into a tree. His keys were later found underneath his car.
After the assault, witness accounts painted varying pictures about what happened and the immediate aftermath.
Kennesaw Police Department officers responded to multiple calls about the fracas. Their report says a witness told an officer that after the commotion began, one of the men in the parking lot ran to the witness’ nearby apartment and sought shelter inside.
The witness, identified in the report as David Ollar, claimed that the man said the encounter began because Rosemond was driving recklessly and almost hit the man’s friend. Ollar told police the man he’d sheltered said some of his fraternity brothers responded by going to confront Rosemond about his driving, leading to the physical altercation.
Ollar told officers that although he did not know the white man he’d let into his apartment, he’d let him in after hearing yelling from about 10 people outside, including the sound of a Black man saying “run it back” and walk toward a group of people. The unidentified male sheltering inside the apartment would also tell Ollar, “one of the occupants of the vehicle [Rosemond’s car] had a gun.”
It is not clear from the police report who, if anyone, was with Rosemond in his car when he was confronted by his assailants, but he denies he was armed. Police later searched his vehicle, and the report did not indicate a gun was found inside.
Ollar’s account shows that while he was protecting the unknown white male inside, “three Black males started knocking on the front door and said, ‘We know he’s in there,’ ” as stated in the police report. The report does not indicate the identities of those three men.
Other witnesses also told police a Black male knocked on their doors looking for white men possibly hiding in neighboring apartments.
One of those remaining witnesses claimed to have seen a Black male “wearing a mask” and that he had “a gun with a silver back in his waist band.” It’s unclear if the witness is referring to a Black male associated with the group of Black males described by the first witness. Neither police nor the witnesses identified who the Black men were.
Police said they went to the fraternity house to locate the two white men involved in the attack.
Rosemond told reporters that after he regained his bearings, he had to bang on his apartment window for help because he couldn’t find his keys.
Emmanuel Osakwe, one of Rosemond’s roommates, saw the aftermath of the attack.
“He was bleeding, and his nose was fractured,” Osakwe said.
“Call it what it is; it’s a hate crime,” Osakwe said. “I can’t sugarcoat it because somebody came home after a long day’s work and got attacked at their car,” he continued.
Rosemond’s roommate Brandon Johnson took him to the hospital for immediate treatment.
“I want justice for my friend,” Osakwe said to WANF.
Rosemond told police he and his roommates do not have any prior history with his attackers.
Kennesaw police have charged the aforementioned suspects Stanley and Reasoner, but they were not known to have been arrested by the evening of Friday, Jan. 27.
Kennesaw Police Chief Bill Westenberger said in a statement: “Based on the current video evidence and statements, this could ultimately be racially motivated, but all aspects of this case will be investigated, and the proper charges will be applied.”
Some who viewed the video were dismayed at the school’s reaction to the incident.
On Instagram, @crimsoncasserole wrote, “It’s kinda f*cked up that I’m hearing about this online instead of from KSU as a student that goes there… They rlly need to be taking this seriously and talking about it.”
Another pointed out the likelihood of a new narrative if Rosemond retaliated against his attackers. @1sologreg wrote, “But if he woulda shot them them he woulda been in the wrong.”
Rosemond is studying business at Kennesaw State University’s Coles College of Business. He is adamant that what happened to him was racially motivated.
“I want them to be charged with assault, I want them to be charged with discrimination,” Rosemond said this week. “This was a pure hate crime.”
Rosemond added, “This is still the world that we live in, and I know it’s not everybody. I’m grateful that I’m able to tell my story because there are people that went through something like this and haven’t been able to tell their story.”
