Special Prosecutor Appointed in Texas Dragging Case

A special prosecutor has been appointed in the case of a Texas black man who died after being dragged underneath a truck driven by two white men. The Brandon McClelland case is being compared by black activists groups to the dragging death of James Byrd 10 years ago, but investigators and family members of the two white men accused in the crime, long-time friends of McClelland, insist it wasn't a hate crime.

"This was no hate crime," Krystala Boyd said. "You can't hate somebody you love."

According to court papers filed in the case, Charles Crostley and Shannon Finley, both 27, went with McClelland from Paris, Texas across the state line to Oklahoma on a late night beer run on September 16. On the way back, the three got into an argument over who was sober enough to drive.

McClelland decided to walk home, taking some of the beer with him. Finley, who was driving the pickup truck, began to bump McClelland with the front of the truck. According to statements given to investigators, McClelland fell and Finley drove over him.

A Hate Crime?

Evidence showed that McClelland was dragged beneath the pickup truck for 70 feet. His body was "torn apart," court papers said.

Crostley and Finley went to a car wash to try to clean the blood off the truck.

McClelland's mother and some black activist groups believe his death was similar to the James Byrd case in 1998, in which Byrd was chained by the ankles to the back of a pickup truck by three white supremacists and dragged for three miles near Jasper, Texas.

Two of Byrd's killers are on death row and the third is serving a life sentence.

But Finley's sister, Krystala Boyd, said race was not a factor because McClelland was friends with both suspects.

They Were Like Brothers

"They were like brothers," Boyd said. "Brandon would come to all of our family functions. He was around all of our kids. He would have dinner with us. I have known Brandon longer than I have known my own husband."

Prosecutors originally agreed that there was no evidence of a hate crime or that race played a role in the crime.

"This is a group of guys who had black friends and white friends," said Allan Hubbard, a spokesman for the Lamar County district attorney's office. "Any comparison to Jasper and James Byrd is preposterous."

Special Prosecutor Appointed

But under pressure from McClelland's family and groups like the New Black Panther Party, the Nation of Islam and others, District Attorney Gary Young stepped down from the case and a special prosecutor was appointed - Dallas County assistant district attorney Toby Shook.

Before Young became district attorney, he had represented Finely in an unrelated case.

Finley and Crostley are being held in Lamar County jail. They have yet to be indicted by the grand jury, which meets next Dec. 11.

See Also:
Special Prosecutor to Handle Texas Dragging Case
Suspect's Sister: Texas Dragging Death Not Racial
Another Dragging Death in Texas Raises Tensions

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