A nine-year-old white boy was allegedly caught on camera cracking a whip outside a Black neighbour’s door that led to a series of incidents and eventually landed his father in jail.
Bryan Thomas Brunson, the boy’s father, was arrested for accidentally firing off a gun which nearly hit his daughter following a verbal altercation with the Black neighbours.
The boy had walked up to Dee and Carissa Nash’s front door in Forney, Texas last Thursday, with a long whip which he cracked more than twice before banging on the door multiple times, the ring door video showed.
When Ms Nash opened the door, the boy – visibly startled – stood still as he was told to get off the property. “Little boy, you better get your ass off my porch, beating on my door like this,” Ms Nash can be heard saying.
“I will call the police. You need to leave. Don’t you ever beat on my goddamn door like this. Go!” she added. The couple claimed the boy was searching for their nine-year-old daughter and had scratched Ms Nash’s car on his way out.
The couple said they informed the police, who claimed the boy’s family was moving out “so it will blow over” and asked them to work it out.
“My wife called the police right after the boy left with the whip. The officer said they can’t press charges as the kid was only nine years old,” Mr Nash told TMZ.
They were advised to pursue other legal measures.
He added that the officer never showed the video to the boy’s father or confiscated the whip, which they feared, the boy could carry to school or chase their daughter with.
In the following video, Mr Nash is seen in front of Mr Brunson’s house, complaining about his son’s behaviour.
“Let me show you the video if you come outside and talk like adults. I am trying to have a civil conversation... your son hit my door with a whip and hit my car,” Mr Nash said.
“I don’t know but my son told me your boy jumped him on his way home,” Mr Brunson responded from inside his house.
Ms Nash can be heard saying in the video that their son was 13 years old and didn’t go to the same school.
Mr Brunson then stepped out to ask Mr Nash to get off his property. “Get off my property because you ain’t coming over here talking nicely. You’re accusing my son,” Mr Brunson yelled.
While Mr Nash was leaving the property, the men started hurling expletives at each other. “Your son came over here with a f****** whip. Bring his ass over here again and see what the f*** happens,” Mr Nash said.
Mr Brunson can be seen holding a gun which he discharges as Mr Nash turns around to respond to him. As the bullet went off, Ms Nash can be heard repeatedly screaming: “Oh my God!”
“The gun was always out,” Mr Nash told TMZ.
Videos of the incident, which are now viral on social media with nearly 5 million views, were posted over the weekend in light of the Buffalo shooting, where 10 Black people were killed by an 18-year-old white supremacist.
Kaufman County constable Jason Johnson said Mr Brunson was arguing with the couple on his driveway with an illegal Ruger semi-automatic pistol. He accidentally discharged the gun when he was picking it up from the floor.
“He had a child standing behind and when it went off it could have seriously injured that child or taken that child’s life or somebody else’s,” the constable was quoted by NBC5 as saying.
“This is not acceptable. This is how things escalate. This is why we have things happening like the one in Buffalo because it starts with something like this. This stuff is taught, no one is born like this. I believe it is taught,” Mr Nash said.
