The prosecutors also filed charges of first-degree reckless injury and use of a dangerous weapon against the suspect, Clifton Blackwell, on Wednesday. He faces a total of 35 years in prison and $105,000 in fines.
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Suspect Charged With Hate Crime in Acid Attack on Hispanic Man
A 61-year-old white man who is accused of splashing acid on a Hispanic man’s face and telling him to “go back” to his country has been charged with a hate crime by prosecutors in Milwaukee.
Suspect Charged With Hate Crime in Acid Attack on Hispanic Man
According to charging documents, the episode began Friday night when Blackwell yelled at Mahud Villalaz, 42, for parking too close to a bus stop, saying “Why did you invade my country?” and “Why don’t you respect my laws?”
Villalaz, who is a U.S. citizen, moved his truck and walked back toward the restaurant’s entrance, prosecutors say, but Blackwell continued to berate him, calling him an “illegal” before splashing him in the face with a bottle of acid. A surveillance camera caught the attack on video.
Villalaz suffered second-degree burns on his face and third-degree burns on his neck, as well as irritation to his left eye.
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Wisconsin state law provides for an additional fine of $5,000 and a maximum of five more years in jail for felonies in which the perpetrator selects a victim because of their national origin, “whether or not the actor’s belief or perception was correct.” Villalaz, who was born in Peru, became a U.S. citizen in 2013.
A search of Blackwell’s home recovered muriatic acid, four bottles of sulfuric acid and two bottles of lye-based drain opener, police said.
In an interview this week, Villalaz said he had stopped after work to get carne asada and carnitas tacos at La Sierrita restaurant, located in a majority-Hispanic neighborhood south of downtown Milwaukee, when he was attacked. “I don’t know the guy, and he did that to me,” Villalaz said. “Who carries a bottle of acid?"
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This article originally appeared in
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