BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Police in Louisiana’s capital city say they don’t have evidence to support allegations that racism prompted a white jogger’s collision with a black student.
Baton Rouge police made the statement Thursday to clarify the reason that Dr. Shane McKinney, a 54-year-old emergency room pediatrician, was arrested Wednesday on a charge of simple battery, news outlets reported.
The student is on Southern’s track team. Athletic director Roman Banks said earlier this week that the historically Black university believes the incident was racially motivated.
McKinney didn’t mean to run into the student, defense attorney James Manasseh said in a statement to The Advocate.
However, a witness said he turned “more than required in a normal running gait” and stuck out his elbow, hitting her in the shoulder and chest so that she spun around, according to the police report obtained by the newspaper and WBRZ-TV.
McKinney maintains his innocence and “was not arrested for any type of hate crime because the evidence does not support it,” Manasseh said.
The incident occurred near the lakes at Louisiana State University, a popular area for walking, running and biking.
LSU police released a report Thursday saying a woman accused McKinney on July 4 of intentionally running into her. He told police that two women were walking “shoulder to shoulder beside each other” and he bumped one while passing them, The Advocate said. The woman wanted to press charges but McKinney was not arrested.
That report did not mention the woman’s race or allege that McKinney said anything racist, the newspaper said.
In another development Thursday, District Attorney Hillar Moore III stepped aside from the battery prosecution because a close relative of McKinney’s works for him. He referred the case to the state Attorney General’s Office.
Southern University officials declined comment Friday except to say police are still investigating, The Advocate reported.
Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital has put McKinney on administrative leave.
The hospital system removed his profile from its website on Wednesday.
Manasseh asked that anyone with cellphone video or surveillance footage of the incident provide it to police.
“Dr. McKinney’s life and career has been devoted to helping and healing those in need during the most vulnerable times of their lives. He is a healer and not a harmer,” Manasseh wrote. “He has no ill will towards anyone and looks forward to the legal system running its course and for the truth to be fully unveiled.”
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