Driver Runs Down Woman For Being Black, Police Say - Orlando News Story - WKMG Orlando

Mekeda Cato, 25, of Daytona Beach, was hit while bicycling in the 700 block of South Atlantic Avenue.

Officers said Thomas Cosby, 56, was driving southbound in a 1998 Chevrolet Malibu when the car jumped the curb, striking the woman.

Police said Cosby targeted Cato because she is black, Local 6's Tarik Minor reported.

Cosby admitted to hitting Cato on purpose with his car and then calling her the n-word repeatedly after breaking her leg, police said.

Witnesses said Cosby screamed, "These black people need to die. Help me kill them. I saw her on the bike and went to take her out."

"I actually saw him coming toward me and I tried to move," Cato said from a hospital bed Tuesday. "He came straight for me. If he could target me just because the color of my skin he could target anybody else. It could have been anybody else who was just riding or just walking. If I was walking I'd probably be dead right now."

Cato continues to be treated at Halifax Medical Center.

"I don't have hate in my heart," Cato said. "I just wish he didn't hate me."

Daytona police reports indicated that Cosby just had a breakup with his girlfriend who was involved in a relationship with a black man, Minor reported.

Cosby faces charges of aggravated battery and simple battery.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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There's a million jokes I could say about this loser but what I read on the blog I got this article from is totally on point:

The man accused is only facing battery charges. I don't know anything about federal law (which is a shame in of itself) but I've gotta believe this constitutes a hate crime. And again, because I don't know federal law, I don't know the guidelines as to what this man should potentially be facing, but it would be interesting to see the proposed value of a black woman's life in the eyes of the federal court, especially when you consider Michael Vick was facing up to 30 years in prison for crimes against dogs.

The bottom line is cases like this one, and the Bell shooting in New York, the Jena Six, for some black people it just reinforces the fact that our seeming racial paranoia is valid and justified. It's just too hard to believe that some guy would decide in an instant that "these black people need to die" in a moment of rage mistaken as an epiphany. It's much easier to believe that this man may have had a history of more discreet, harder to detect discriminatory acts against minorities and that this latest act was the cresendo of sorts. I don't know what to make of it all, but it's disappointing as hell on a lot of levels.

Cato is a better person than I am.....I hate anybody who hates me...period.

Police: Black Woman Hit By Car Targeted - Orlando News Story - WESH Orlando

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